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PreparecL  under  ihe  direction  of 
THE  UNITED  SX^ES  FOOD  ADMINISTRATION 


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in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


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FOOD   SAVING  AND  SHARING 


FOOD  SAVING 
AND  SHARING 

Telling  Ho^  {he  Oldei 

Cnildren  of  Ameiicia 

May  Help  vSave 

TKeir  Comrades 
in  ABied  Lands 
Across  the  Sea. 


Prepared,  urwler  ilie 

direction,  of 

THE  UNITED  STATES 

FOOD  ADMINISTRAnON 

in  cooperaiion  w^iik 

THE  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT 

OF   AGRICULTURE  AND 

THE  BUREAU  OF  EDUCATION 


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COPYRIGHT,  19 1 8,  BY 

DOUBLEDAY,    PAGE    &    COMPANY 

ALL   RIGHTS    RESERVED,    INCLUDING   THAT   OF 

TRANSLATION    INTO    FOREIGN    LANGUAGES, 

INCLUDING  THE    SCANDINAVIAN 


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FOREWORD 

The  National  Education  Association,  at  its  annual 
meeting,  July,  191 8,  adopted  a  resolution  calling  upon 
the  United  States  Food  Administration  to  "prepare  in 
a  form  suitable  for  use  in  public  schools,  and  particu- 
larly in  the  upper  grades,  lessons  and  material  supple- 
mentary to  existing  courses,  which  will  promote  the 
program  of  food  conservation." 

In  response  to  this  request  this  little  book  has  been 
prepared.  It  was  written  by  Eva  March  Tappan,  as- 
sisted by  Alice  Peloubet  Norton,  editor  of  the  Journal 
of  Home  Economics;  Henrietta  W.  Calvin,  Specialist  in 
Home  Economics,  Bureau  of  Education;  C.  F.  Lang- 
worthy,  Chief  of  the  Office  of  Home  Economics,  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture;  and  Sarah  Louise  Arnold,  Dean 
of  Simmons  College.  It  has  been  read  and  approved 
by  H.  C.  Sherman,  Professor  of  Food  Chemistry, 
Columbia  University. 

The  manner  in  which  the  book  can  be  used  most  ad- 
vantageously will  be  determined  by  the  teacher  and  by 
local  conditions.  It  is  believed  that  the  information 
contained  in  it  may  properly  be  included  in  the  instruc- 
tion of  American  children  at  the  present  time.  This 
information  will  enable  the  children  to  contribute  intel- 
ligently to  the  success  of  the  government  food  cam- 


388699 


vi  FOREWORD 

paign,  and  thus  aid  greatly  in  the  relief  of  the  millions 
now  dependent  for  their  food  upon  the  good  will  of 
the  people  of  America. 

The  United  States  Food  Administration  is  grateful  to 
the  teachers  for  their  loyal  cooperation. 

Olin  Templin 

Director  of  School  and  College  Activities 

November  i,  1918. 


To  the  Girls  and  Boys  of  America: 

Now  that  the  terrible  war  is  over,  3^ou  must  be  glad 
that  you  helped  to  win  it  by  saving  food  for  our 
soldiers  and  our  unhappy  friends  across  the  sea.  But 
our  work  of  feeding  hungry  people  is  now  to  be 
greater  than  it  has  ever  been.  Many  millions  of  peo- 
ple have  been  made  free  by  our  victory,  but  they  are 
in  the  greatest  danger  of  death  from  starvation.  They 
look  to  America  for  food  until  the  next  harvest. 

We  must  go  on  saving  and  sharing  with  them  as 
faithfully  as  ever.  And  of  course  you  will  want  to  do 
your  part  as  you  have  been  doing  it.  To  save  the 
world  from  famine  will  be  a  greater  task  than  any  of 
us  can  imagine,  but  we  can  do  it  if  each  of  us  does  all 
he  can.     I  am  counting  on  you. 

Faithfully  yours, 

Herbert  Hoover. 


GRACE   AT  TABLE 

1918 

Here  we  gather^  dear  All-Father, 

Round  Thy  table  to  he  fed. 

'  Tis  Thy  gift,  —  our  daily  bread. 

As  we  gather  to  be  fed 

Nations  plead  for  daily  bread, — 

Fighting  son  and  anguished  mother. 

Orphaned  children, —  all  together 

Pray  to  thee  for  daily  bread. 

At  Thy  common  table.  Father, 

Ask  we  all  for  daily  bread. 

God,  All-Father,  hear  our  prayer! 
Move  our  hearts  and  minds  to  share 
With  Thy  children  at  Thy  table 
This,  Thy  gift  of  daily  bread, — 
Sacred  gift  of  daily  bread! 

Lest  they  perish,  swift  and  eager 
Share  we  now  our  daily  bread. 
Give  through  us,  0  great  All-Father, 
To  Thy  children,  daily  bread! 

SARAH    LOUISE    ARNOLD 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  '  PAGE 

I.     Food  Saving  and  Sharing i 

II.     Food  in  General 9 

III.  About  Fruit  and  Vegetables     ....  13 

IV.  Foods  That  Help  Build  the  Body       .     .  21 
V.  Cereals,  Foods  Rich  in  Starch        ...  27 

VI.      Sugar  and   Sweets 37 

VII.     Fats  and  Fatty  Foods 47 

VIII.     Hungry  Europe .     .  55 

IX.  Where  Is  the  Food  of  the  World?      .     .  65 

X.     What  We  Did  About  It 73 

XL  What  We  Have  Yet  to  Do       ....  91 

XII.     The  Little  Group  of  One 97 


Amerkamsm 
eating  less 


CHAPTER  I 
FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

Not  long  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  it  became 
clear  that  unless  the  Allies  and  the  neutral  countries 
could  get  food  from  North  America,  they  would  soon 
find  themselves  hungry.  We  were  glad  to  send  food. 
We  put  wheat  substitutes  in  our  bread;  we  ate  less  sugar 
than  usual;  and  we  kept  meatless  days — all  in  order  to 
save  food  to  send  across  the  ocean. 

The  war  is  over,  but  the  coming  of  peace  does  not 
fill  the  empty  plates  of  the  hungry  people  of  Europe. 
For  some  time  to  come,  this  must  be  chiefly  the  work  of 
North  America.  We  must  do  more  than  in  the  time 
of  war  because  there  are  so  many  more  people  to  feed. 
We  must  help  not  only  the  AlHes  but  also  the  starving 
nations  that  we  could  not  reach  until  they  had  been 
freed  from  the  German  invaders.  It  is  not  the  Amer- 
ican way  to  leave  any  people  to  die  of  starvation.  We 
must  do  our  sh?re,  and  a  generous  share.     We  shall 


2  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

probably  have  to  eat  less  than  we  are  accustomed  to  of 
some  of  the  things  that  we  like,  and  we  shall  have  to 
be  careful  not  to  be  wasteful. 

Some  of  us  have  fallen  into  the  habit  of  being  careless 
and  extravagant  in  the  matter  of  food.  Compared 
with  the  states  of  Europe,  the  United  States  is  a  young 
country,  and  the  food  history  of  all  young  countries 
is  much  the  same.  When  colonists  first  come  to  a  land,, 
they  usually  find  it  for  a  time  somewhat  difficult  to  get 
food,  excepting  wild  meat.  Before  long  matters  im- 
prove. The  soil  of  a  new  land  is  rich  and  fertile, 
and  soon  food  of  many  kinds  becomes  plentiful.  Nat- 
urally, those  who  have  not  had  all  that  they  wished  now 
enjoy  the  abundance,  and  take  great  pleasure  in  loading 
their  tables  with  all  sorts  of  delicacies. 

That  is  the  way  it  has  been  with  this  country.  But 
even  before  the  war,  people  were  beginning  to  find  out 
that  this  fashion  of  living  was  foolish  and  extravagant, 
that  preparing  so  many  kinds  of  food  in  elaborate  ways 
was  a  great  waste  of  time  and  material,  and  that  an 
overloaded  table  was  in  poor  taste.  In  short,  people 
were  beginning  to  think  more  wisely  about  their  food. 

When  we  began  to  send  large  quantities  of  food  to 
Europe,  we  had  to  look  at  food  in  a  new  and  different 
fashion.  We  had  been  in  the  habit  of  choosing  what- 
ever we  liked,  provided  it  did  not  cost  more  than  we 
could  pay.  We  now  learned  that  we  ought  rather  to 
choose  what  we  needed  for  health  and  strength. 

We  had  to  send  the  amount  of  food  that  we  could 


0) 

a, 

2 


4  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

safely  spare.  We  had  to  send  the  food  that  could  best 
be  shipped,  and  the  kind  that  soldiers  would  like.  No 
loyal  American  was  so  selfish  as  to  keep  the  best  of  the 
foods  for  himself,  and  send  the  poorest  and  least  appetiz- 
ing to  the  Allies  and  to  our  own  boys  on  the  front  who 
were  risking  their  lives  for  us.  An  American  boy  wrote 
home,  '*When  I  think  that  the  food  I  eat  in  the  trenches 
was  brought  to  me  more  than  4,000  miles  by  land  and 
sea,  part  of  the  way  on  new  roads  built  by  the  United 
States,  that  her  bread  has  followed  me  wherever  I  have 
been,  I  cannot  tell  you  how  proud  I  feel  that  I  am  an 
American."  To  supply  food  to  those  who  fight  our 
battles  is  a  noble  task,  but  a  nobler  lies  before  us.  To- 
day, millions  of  people  have  not  sufficient  food  to  keep 
them  in  health.  We  must  eat  wisely  and  economically. 
We  must  save  and  share. 

The  world  is  large.  It  produces  a  vast  amount  of 
food,  but  there  is  also  a  vast  number  of  people  to  eat 
this  food.  We  never  have  much  food  stored  up  **  against 
a  rainy  day."  Even  in  time  of  peace,  if  all  produc- 
tion of  food  should  suddenly  cease,  the  whole  stock 
would  be  gone  in  sixty  days.  The  world  really  lives 
from  hand  to  mouth.  The  four  years  of  war  have  les- 
sened production  in  many  places  and  destroyed  many 
fields.  There  is  much  less  food  in  the  world  than  usual, 
and  if  people  are  not  to  go  hungry,  no  one  must  be 
wasteful.  The  whole  world  is  like  one  vast  family, 
seated  at  one  common  table.  There  is  only  a  certain 
quantity  of  food,  and  if  some  people  take  too  much. 


FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING  5 

others  will  have  to  take  less  or  go  without  entirely. 
This  vast  family  is  scattered  over  the  world.  The  food 
which  they  need  is  also  scattered  over  the  world.  Did 
you  ever  think  how  well  arranged  it  is  that  we  have 
different  zones  and  that  when  the  North  Temperate 
Zone,  for  instance,  is  warmest,  the  South  Temperate  is 
coldest,  so  that  the  autumn  of  one  is  the  spring  of  an- 
other .f*  Even  in  places  no  farther  apart  than  Idaho 
and  Missouri,  there  is  considerable  difference  in  the 
time  of  harvest,  so  that  the  season  for  producing  grain 
is  lengthened  and  a  greater  amount  of  necessary  food. is 
brought  into  the  world.  In  time  of  peace,  trade  and 
opportunity  to  make  money  by  carrying  products  from 
where  they  grow  to  the  places  where  they  do  not  grow 
may  generally  be  depended  upon  for  the  distribution 
of  food.  That  is  why  people  in  New  England  or  Michi- 
gan, for  instance,  can  have  early  in  the  season  peaches 
from  Georgia,  then  from  Delaware  and  New  Jersey, 
and  finally  from  their  home  orchards. 

In  time  of  war  and  for  a  long  while  after  such  a  war 
as  we  have  just  passed  through,  it  is  not  enough  to 
raise  food  or  even  to  send  it  wherever  there  is  a  food 
market  and  it  can  be  sold  at  a  high  price.  We  must 
remember  the  "common  table''  and  reahze  that  too 
much  food  carried  to  one  place  will  leave  too  little  for 
other  places.  Transportation  is  disorganized;  it  is 
easier  to  send  to  one  part  of  the  world  or  to  one  part  of  a 
country-  than  to  another.  People  must  not  use  food 
wastefully  or  too  lavishly,  and  then  have  to  go  without 


6  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

later.  In  short,  everyone,  in  order  to  do  his  proper 
share  of  the  work  of  the  world,  must  have  his  proper 
share  of  the  food  of  the  world.  To  increase  the  produc- 
tion of  food  and  to  distribute  it  fairly  needs  a  wise 
brain  and  a  strong  hand.  This  is  why  every  one  of  the 
countries  that  were  at  war  has  needed  a  Food  Adminis- 
tration, and  why  even  with  the  coming  of  peace  there 
will  continue  a  need  for  careful  economy  in  food.  Rep- 
resentatives of  these  countries  have  held  conferences,  so 
this  plan  is  really  a  world  arrangement  to  provide  for 
a  world  table. 

We  did  not  go  into  this  war  because  we  were  eager 
to  kill  people,  but  because  we  were  eager  to  save 
people,  to  give  freedom  to  those  in  bondage,  and  to 
make  the  "world  a  safe  and  happy  place  in  which  to 
live.  We  have  helped  our  friends,  and  we  must  con- 
tinue to  help  them.  We  must  also  see  to  it  that  those 
who  have  been  our  enemies  are  enabled  to  help  them- 
selves. 

This  Httle  book  was  written  to  tell,  first,  what  we 
did  during  the  war  to  make  sure  that  our  own  people 
and  the  Allies  had  their  proper  share  of  food;  and,  sec- 
ond, what  we  have  yet  to  do  as  our  share  in  providing 
food  for  the  common  table.  Before  we  can  understand 
this,  however,  we  must  know  what  kinds  of  food  each 
person  needs  to  make  him  ready  to  do  his  work  in  the 
world.  That  is  why  the  book  is  divided  into  two  parts, 
namely : 

I.     The  value  of  different  kinds  of  food. 


FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING  7 

2.     What  the  United  States  did  to  provide  food  for 
ourselves  and  the  Allies. 
It  is  worth  remembering: 
That  people  are  thinking  more  wisely  about  food. 
That  we  must  choose  our  food  for  health   and 

strength. 
That  the  whole  world  sits  at  a  common  table,  and 

food  should  be  shared  fairly. 
That  in  peace,  trade  is  the  great  agent  of  food 

distribution. 
That  in  war  only  a  strong  Food  Administration 

can  make  sure  that  all  are  treated  fairly. 
That  to  feed  people  wisely  we  must  know  the 
value  of  the  different  kinds  of  food. 


CHAPTER  II 
FOOD  IN  GENERAL 

Not  many  years  ago,  if  the  question  had  been  asked, 
**What  kinds  of  food  ought  one  to  eat?"  most  people 
would  have  looked  a  little  surprised  and  replied, 
"Whatever  you  like,  if  it  does  not  make  you  sick." 
People  in  general  thought  of  food  as  something  that 
tasted  good  and  made  them  feel  more  comfortable 
when  they  were  hungry.  Very  few  realized  that 
different  kinds  of  food  served  different  purposes,  and 
the  mistake  was  often  made  of  using  too  little  or  too 
much  of  some  one  kind.  This  was  just  about  as  reason- 
able as  it  would  be  to  buy  two  hats  when  you  had  no 
shoes,  or  to  go  without  underwear  for  the  sake  of  a 
new  coat. 

We  are  learning  that  our  food  is  useful  to  us  in  three 
ways.  The  first  is  to  give  us  energy  for  work  and  to 
keep  us  warm.  When  a  room  is  cold,  we  make  a  fire. 
The  burning  of  the  coal  or  wood  produces  heat.     If  the 


lo  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

fire  were  under  the  boiler  of  an  engine,  it  would  turn 
the  water  into  steam  that  would  furnish  the  power  to 
run  the  engine.  If  you  work  hard,  you  need  plenty  of 
the  kind  of  food  that  gives  energy;  for  if  you  do  not 
have  enough  food  of  this  sort,  the  energy  will  have  to 
come  from  some  of  the  fat  that  is  stored  up  in  your 
body.  Then  you  will  become  thin  and  lose  strength. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  you  work  Httle  and  eat  much,  you 
may  grow  too  fat,  or  you  may  clog  the  machinery  of 
your  body  and  so  put  it  out  of  order  and  make  it  in- 
capable of  doing  good  work. 

The  second  way  in  which  our  food  should  be  of  use 
to  us  is  as  material  for  building  up  our  bodies  and  keep- 
ing them  in  repair.  When  a  man  is  building  a  house 
or  repairing  one,  he  needs  wood  or  stone  or  brick;  he 
needs  glass  and  putty  and  nails  and  plaster,  and  many 
other  materials.  When  a  house  is  in  use,  something  is 
always  giving  out  and  must  be  repaired.  If  the  proper 
materials  for  repair  cannot  be  obtained,  then  one  part 
of  the  house  after  another  ceases  to  be  useful,  and  after 
a  while  the  whole  house  becomes  worthless.  It  is  the 
same  with  the  body.  The  muscles,  bones,  nerves, 
blood,  and  all  the  rest  of  it  must  have  the  proper  sort 
of  materials  to  make  them  grow  and  to  keep  them  in 
good  working  order.  We  may  eat  entirely  too  much 
food,  but  if  it  is  not  of  the  proper  sort,  our  bodies  will 
become  worn  out  and  will  refuse  to  do  their  work. 

Besides  providing  fuel  and  materials  for  growth  and 
repair,  food  must  also  act  as  a  sort  of  overseer  of  the 


FOOD  IN  GENERAL  ii 

machinery  of  the  body.  If  you  stop  to  think,  you  will 
realize  that  in  your  body  there  is  a  great  deal  of  ma- 
chinery. To  digest  your  dinner,  for  instance,  is  an 
important  business  and  not  at  all  a  simple  matter. 
To  carry  on  this  business  the  muscles  and  blood  vessels 
of  the  stomach  and  the  whole  digestive  apparatus  must 
be  kept  in  good  running  order.  Machinery  needs  great 
care.  Each  part  must  be  kept  in  the  proper  position 
to  fit  into  the  other  parts  and  work  with  them.  There 
must  be  no  friction,  everything  must  work  smoothly 
and  regularly  and  everything  must  be  taken  to  the 
place  where  it  is  needed.  When  a  man  sets  out  to 
repair  his  house,  he  must  not  only  provide  the  proper 
materials,  but  he  must  see  that  they  are  set  in  the  right 
places  and  he  must  see  that  what  is  useless  and  worn 
out  is  carried  away  as  rubbish. 

All  this  is  the  work  of  the  food  in  the  body,  and  it  is 
high  time  that  we  began  to  think  more  wisely  about 
it. 

It  is  worth  remembering: 

That  food  is  useful  to  us  in  the  three  following 
ways: 

1.  Fuel  food  to  provide  power  for  work,  and  to 
keep  us  warm. 

2.  Building  food  to  provide  material  for  build- 
ing and  repairing  the  body. 

3.  Regulating  food  to  keep  the  machinery  of  the 
body  in  good  running  order. 


Chart  12.  Fruit  and  FrulT  Pfod\xti& 


ReviMd  EditiMl 


U.S  Department  of  Agnculture 

States  Relations  Service 

A  C.True:  Director 


FVepared  by 

C.FLANGWORTHY 

Chief.  Office  of  Home  Econonmct 

COMPOSITION  or  FOOD  MATERIALS. 

■■I  ■■  Fuel  VdkM 

RAISINS 

R8t:3. 


■1     m     ■■ 

Fat  Corbohydraas  Ash 


GRAPES 

EDIBLE  PWriON 


(JtBLC  PORTOI* 


:2B 


CANNCD 
PRUIT 

Water:  77  £ 


PRUIT 
^RLJLY 

Waten21.0 


TutL       VALUE 

c 

370  CALDPiES  Carba 

PtR  TOmD  hydr-^s-jaa 


''"'Wn^"^'  hydrates:  21 J 

M)5  CALDFIES 
PCT  POIWI. 


NA5h:0./ 


FutL 


14-15  CAUJRIE5 
PCR   POIMD 


^>^^  ^'-e^ 


CHAPTER  III 

ABOUT  FRUIT  AND  VEGETABLES 

It  is  always  interesting  to  visit  a  place  where  food 
of  many  kinds  is  for  sale.  People  who  live  in  the 
country  are  fortunate,  for  they  can  raise  much  of  their 
own  food;  but  they  always  enjoy  going  to  the  state 
and  county  fairs  where  food  is  on  exhibition  and  prizes 
are  given  out  for  the  biggest  potatoes  and  pumpkins^ 
the  best  bread  and  cake  and  jelly  and  preserves  as  weil 
as  for  the  best  sheep  and  pigs  and  oxen.  In  the  city 
there  are  often  food  fairs,  and  in  the  larger  cities  there 
are  generally  great  market  buildings  where  farmers  can 
bring  their  produce,  have  the  use  of  a  stall,  and  sell 
directly  to  their  customers.  In  many  of  the  smaller 
cities  the  "market''  consists  of  a  great  room  or  hall 
with  many  counters,  and  on  these  all  kinds  of  food 
are  placed,  carefully  protected  by  glass  from  dust  and 
flies,  but  open  to  view,  and  with  each  counter  given  up 
to  some  one  kind  of  food.     These  counters  are  skill- 

13 


14  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

fully  arranged  to  induce  customers  to  buy  more  than 
they  intended,  the  meat  and  vegetables  farthest  from 
the  entrance,  because  people  will  buy  these  anyway; 
and  luxuries  near  the  door,  so  people  will  be  tempted 
by  them  when  waiting  for  a  car. 

Such  markets  are  arranged  for  the  benefit  of  the 
seller;  but  one  might  be  planned  for  the  benefit  oi  the 
buyer,  not  the  buyer  who  merely  wants  "something 
good  to  eat, "  but  the  intelligent  buyer  who  knows  that 
each  kind  of  food  is  of  value  for  some  special  purpose. 

Suppose  there  were  such  a  market,  or  rather,  a  great 
food  fair,  larger  than  any  fair  that  was  ever  held 
before,  and  that  all  the  kinds  of  food  that  you  ever  saw 
were  brought  together  so  people  could  walk  about  and 
look  and  buy  whatever  they  chose.  They  might  find 
the  food  arranged  in  five  great  booths,  so  that  each  one 
contained  the  kinds  of  food  that  would  do  the  same 
kinds  of  work  in  the  body.  In  the  first  booth  would  be 
the  fruits  and  vegetables,  whose  greatest  value  to  us 
is  in  regulating  the  body.  In  the  second  would  be 
milk,  meat,  cheese,  and  other  foods  that  furnish  pro- 
tein, a  very  important  building  food.  Milk  is  useful  in 
so  many  other  ways  that  it  might  almost  be  put  in 
every  booth.  In  the  third  there  would  be  chiefly 
cereals,  such  as  wheat,  oats,  and  rye.  These,  too,  con- 
tain protein,  and  they  also  contain  much  starch,  the 
cheapest  kind  of  body  fuel.  In  the  fourth  booth  would 
be  sugar  and  different  kinds  of  sweets,  fuel  foods  that 
we  like  for  their  flavor.     In  the  fifth  booth  would  be 


ABOUT  FRUIT  AND  VEGETABLES        15 

butter  and  bacon,  oils,  and  other  fats.  These  are 
important  fuel  foods  and  they  also  make  our  food  taste 
good. 

In  a  city  small  boys  and  girls  are  often  sent  to  market 
to  buy  the  food  for  the  family.  "They  know  what 
they  are  about,'*  the  clerks  say,  "and  they  get  their 
money's  worth."  Imagine,  then,  some  of  these  children 
with  a  market  basket  visiting  each  booth  and  selecting 
the  day's  food  for  their  home. 

At  the  first  booth,  they  would  find  all  the  kinds  of 
fruits  and  vegetables  ever  heard  of.  There  would  be 
apples,  pears,  plums,  cherries,  oranges,  lemons,  and 
pineapples,  all  the  varieties  of  grapes  that  ever  grew 
on  vines  and  all  the  kinds  of  berries  that  ever  grew  on 
bushes — for  in  an  imaginary  fair  Hke  this  there  is  no 
reason  why  there  should  not  be  fruit  from  every  country 
and  of  every  season.  Of  course  there  would  also  be 
plenty  of  dried  fruit,  such  as  figs,  raisins,  apricots,  and 
prunes. 

At  the  same  booth,  there  would  be  vegetables  of  all 
kinds.  Green  corn  and  carrots,  spinach,  celery, 
salsify,  lettuce,  potatoes  and  sweet  potatoes,  onions, 
string  beans,  green  peas,  okra  and  cabbages,  and  all 
the  other  vegetables  that  ever  grew  in  gardens  or  fields. 
There  would  be  dried  ones,  too,  for  people  are  beginning 
to  discover  that  they  can  dry  vegetables  as  well  as 
fruits,  and  if  ever  such  a  fair  as  this  becomes  a  reality, 
there  will  be  a  great  display  of  vegetables  which  will 
need  nothing  but  water  to  make  them  ready  to  be 


i6  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

cooked  for  the  table.  Boxes  of  dried  carrots  or  potatoes 
or  peas  do  not  look  quite  so  warlike  as  a  machine  gun, 
but  they,  as  well  as  the  gun,  have  helped  to  win  the  war. 
The  process  of  drying  made  it  possible  to  preserve  the 
products  of  our  gardens  and  farms,  and  dried  vegetables 
take  up  so  little  room  and  weigh  so  little  that  they 
can  be  carried  across  the  ocean  far  more  easily  than 
fresh  ones. 

In  these  fruits  and  vegetables  mineral  matter  is 
found,  especially  lime  and  iron.  These  mineral  sub- 
stances are  necessary  to  all  the  processes  going  on  in 
the  body,  and  an  important  part  of  their  work  is  help- 
ing to  make  bones  and  teeth.  If  you  leave  a  bone 
in  weak  acid,  such  as  vinegar,  for  a  few  days,  the  acid 
will  eat  most  of  the  mineral  matter  out  of  it.  The 
bone  will  look  much  the  same,  but  if  you  take  hold  of 
it,  you  will  find  that  it  will  bend  almost  like  rubber 
and  can  actually  be  tied  in  a  knot.  This  shows  how 
bones  behave  if  they  do  not  have  enough  lime  to  keep 
them  stiff.  Children's  bones  have  a  hard  time  in  one 
way.  They  have  not  nearly  so  much  mineral  matter 
as  those  of  grown  folk,  and  therefore  they  are  far  more 
likely  to  be  bent  out  of  shape.  If  a  little  child  walks 
before  the  bones  of  his  legs  contain  enough  mineral 
matter  to  strengthen  them  so  they  will  hold  up  the 
weight  of  his  body,  he  may  become  bow-legged.  In 
another  way,  the  bones  of  children  have  a  great  advan- 
tage. They  do  not  break  easily,  and  if  one  does  break, 
it  will  soon  knit,  or  grow  together  again,  while  if  an 


ABOUT  FRUIT  AND  VEGETABLES        17 

elderly  person  breaks  a  bone,  it  may  never  knit  at 
all. 

Mineral  matter  is  often  found  in  some  one  part  of  a 
fruit  or  a  vegetable  more  than  in  other  parts.  In  the 
potato,  for  instance,  there  is  much  of  it  in  the  layer 
next  to  the  skin.  This  is  why  potatoes  ought  to  be 
pared  as  thinly  as  possible  or  the  baked  skin  eaten. 
In  any  case,  to  throw  away  thick  potato  parings  and  buy 
other  starch  and  mineral  food  is  behaving  Hke  the 
woman  who  paid  one  man  ten  cents  a  barrel  to  carry 
off  her  old  fruit  baskets  and  wooden  boxes,  and  on  the 
same  day  paid  his  brother  ten  cents  a  barrel  to  bring 
her  bits  of  wood  for  kindhngs. 

Not  only  do  the  fruits  and  vegetables  supply  us  with 
mineral  matter,  but  they  make  our  food  more  bulky, 
and  this  is  an  aid  to  good  digestion.  Fruits  and  vege- 
tables are  useful,  too,  in  giving  us  water,  and  we  need 
much  water,  more  indeed  than  most  people  are  accus- 
tomed to  drink.  Sixty  pounds  of  the  body  of  a  ninety- 
pound  child  consists  of  water.  This  is  passing  out 
constantly  through  the  breath,  as  you  can  see  by 
breathing  on  a  cold  window  pane,  and  through  the 
tiny  pores  of  the  skin,  but  more  in  summer  than  in 
winter;  and  we  need  a  large  quantity  to  take  its  place. 
When  you  are  thirsty,  it  is  not  only  your  throat,  but 
your  whole  body,  that  is  calling  for  water.  There  is 
no  water  in  sugar,  starch,  or  lard,  but  there  is  in  al- 
most all  other  kinds  of  food,  even  where  one  would 
hardly  think  of  looking  for  it.     In  wheat  flour,   for 


i8  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

example,  there  is  a  good  deal.  If  you  should  keep  ten 
pounds  of  wheat  flour  in  a  warm  oven  for  a  while  it 
would  weigh  a  little  less  than  nine  pounds  when  you 
took  it  out.  The  lost  pound  was  water,  and  it  has 
evaporated.  Any  one  can  see,  even  without  testing 
the  statement,  that  there  is  much  water  in  fruit  and 
vegetables.  Grapes  are  nearly  four-fifths  water,  toma- 
toes and  celery  more  than  nine-tenths. 

It  is  because  fruit  and  vegetables  contain  so  much 
water  that  they  are  difficult  to  transport,  for  not  only 
do  they  spoil  easily,  but  they  are  heavy  and  take  up 
too  much  room.  That  is  one  reason  why,  in  these  days, 
when  there  is  double  work  for  every  ship,  we  are  asked 
to  eat  them  as  much  as  possible,  so  that  the  more  con- 
centrated foods  may  be  sent  abroad.  Entirely  aside 
from  the  needs  of  the  countries  that  have  been  at  war, 
however,  they  are  an  extremely  valuable  food. 

In  the  old  fairy  tales,  there  was  always  one  fairy  who 
was  forgotten  and  who  made  everything  go  wrong  be- 
cause she  was  not  invited  to  go  to  the  wedding  or  the 
christening.  There  is  a  class  of  substances  called  vita- 
mines  which  are  somewhat  like  the  revengeful  fairy. 
They  are  present  in  certain  kinds  of  food  in  minute 
quantities.  Little  is  known  about  the  vitamines,  but 
what  is  known  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  for  it  is 
certain  that  they  are  necessary  to  life  and  health. 
There  are  two  kinds.  A  good  deal  of  one  kind  is  found 
in  butter,  the  yolk  of  eggs,  and  in  the  leafy  vegetables, 
such  as  lettuce,   spinach,  and   dandelions.     The  other 


ABOUT  FRUIT  AND  VEGETABLES         19 

kind  is  found  in  a  great  many  kinds  of  food,  especially 
in  vegetables,  in  fruit,  and  in  whole  cereals.  Both  are 
found  in  milk.  They,  like  the  fairy,  should  never  be 
forgotten  at  the  feast. 

We  know  fairly  well  how  much  people  should  eat  of 
some  kinds  of  food;  but  no  one  has  as  yet  found  out 
just  how  much  of  the  vitamines  we  need.  One  thing 
is  sure,  namely,  that  fruits  and  vegetables  which  con- 
tain them  are  a  most  valuable  kind  of  food,  and  every- 
body, except  babies,  should  have  at  least  one  pound  a 
day.  They  are  so  largely  water  that  there  is  very  little 
danger  of  any  one's  eating  too  much  of  them,  but  in 
any  case,  it  is  better  to  eat  too  much  of  these  foods 
than  too  little  and  the  children  with  the  market  basket 
can  hardly  buy  too  freely  at  this  booth. 
It  is  worth  remembering: 
That  the  first  of  the  fiwe  great  groups  is  composed 

of  fruit  and  vegetables. 
That  we  need,  especially  for  the  making  of  teeth 
and  bones,  the  mineral  matter  supplied  by  fruit 
and  vegetables,  and  milk. 
That  if  we  use  fruits  and  vegetables  and  milk 
freely  we  are  quite  sure  to  get  enough  of  the 
vitamines  that  are  needed  to  make  us  grow. 
That  fruit  and  vegetables  also  help  to  supply  us 
with  water,  and  add  to  our  food  the  bulk  which 
is  needed  in  digestion. 
That  fresh  fruit  and  vegetables  are  so  hard  to 
ship  that  we  can  help  by  using  those  that  grow 
near  home. 


CHAPTER  IV 
FOODS  THAT  HELP   BUILD  THE  BODY 

After  the  children  with  the  market  basket  have  se- 
lected their  fruit  and  vegetables  they  will  next  come  to 
a  booth  filled  with  eatables  which  look  as  if  they  had 
never  seen  one  another  before  and  were  surprised  to 
find  themselves  in  the  same  company.  Some  are  in 
bottles,  some  in  jars  or  in  their  own  natural  shells, 
some  are  in  wooden  boxes  or  cartons  and  rattle  around 
whenever  they  are  stirred,  and  some  stand  out  boldly 
in  all  sorts  of  shapes,  ready  to  be  sliced  and  sold.  Per- 
haps you  have  guessed  that  the  bottles  hold  milk,  that 
the  jars  and  shells  hold  oysters  and  clams,  that  the 
boxes  and  cartons  hold  dried  beans  and  peas  and  nuts, 
and  that  the  food  all  ready  to  be  sliced  off  is  great 
pieces  of  meat — beef,  mutton,  pork,  veal,  and  other 
kinds.     Besides  these,  there  are  eggs,  cheese,  and  fish. 

It  is  certainly  a  queer  collection  at  this  second  booth, 
for  eggs  and  oysters,  or  pork  and  nuts,  or  beans  and 

21 


22  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

cheese,  have  not  often  much  to  do  with  each  other. 
In  one  respect,  however,  all  these  foods  are  aUke; 
namely,  they  all  contain  a  good  deal  of  a  substance 
called  protein.  It  is  by  no  means  easy  to  extract  the 
mineral  matter  from  fruit  and  vegetables,  but  it  is  a 
simple  matter  for  any  one  to  get  protein.  If  you  live 
in  the  country,  go  to  a  wheat  field,  pick  some  grains 
of  ripe  wheat  and  chew  them.  They  will  soon  become 
a  gummy,  elastic  mass;  and  this  is  one  kind  of  protein. 
If  you  live  in  a  city,  far  away  from  fields  of  wheat, 
make  a  stiflF  dough  of  some  flour  and  work  it  with 
your  fingers  in  a  dish  of  water  or  under  a  gentle  trickle 
from  a  faucet  until  the  starch  is  washed  out;  and  what 
remains  of  the  dough  is  the  same  kind  of  protein  as 
that  obtained  from  the  wheat  kernels.  Aside  from  the 
water  in  them,  lean  meat,  cottage  cheese  and  the  white 
of  egg  are  almost  entirely  protein.  Dried  beans  and 
peas,  peanuts  and  lentils,  although  really  vegetables, 
contain  so  much  that  they  belong  in  this  group.  The  soy 
bean,  which  first  came  to  us  from  Japan  and  China,  and 
is  now  raised  in  large  quantities  in  America,  is  more  than 
one-third  protein.  Fish  contains  almost  as  much  as 
meat,  while  milk  and  cheese  are  the  best  protein  foods 
we  have. 

The  chief  business  of  protein  is  to  supply  material 
for  growth  and  repair.  A  child  who  does  not  have  as 
much  protein  as  he  needs  will  become  stunted.  The 
body  of  a  grown  person  does  not  increase  in  height  like 
that  of  a  child,  but  it  is  subject  to  constant  wear  and 


FOODS  THAT  HELP  BUILD  THE  BODY    23 

teats  and  if  there  were  no  way  to  replace  what  has  been 
worn  out,  it  would  not  take  so  very  long  for  an  active 
person  to  use  up  his  body.  A  boy  who  goes  barefooted 
all  summer  does  not  wear  out  the  soles  of  his  feet,  or 
rather,  what  he  does  wear  off  is  replaced;  but  he  would 
wear  out  more  than  one  pair  of  shoes  if  he  gave  them 
the  same  treatment  that  he  gave  his  feet.  Shoes  wear 
out,  but  feet  are  kept  in  repair  by  the  body. 

Protein  is  an  absolutely  necessary  food.  This  is 
what  gives  it  its  name,  for  the  word  protein  means 
of  the  first  importance.  Unluckily,  most  people  make 
the  mistake  of  thinking  that  in  order  to  get  protein 
food  they  must  buy  meat;  and  as  meat  is  usually  ex- 
pensive, they  spend  much  more  money  in  buying  it 
than  is  at  all  necessary.  If  they  only  knew  that  cheese 
and  eggs  and  milk,  as  well  as  fish  and  other  seafoods, 
will  take  the  place  of  meat  altogether,  and  that  beans, 
peas,  and  nuts  will  do  a  great  deal  toward  filHng  its 
place,  they  would  come  hom.e  from  market  with  fuller 
purses. 

There  is  one  thing  that  the  children  with  the  market 
basket  should  remember  when  they  stand  before  the 
protein  booth — that  not  all  proteins  which  the  foods  pro- 
vide are  alike.  Some  come  from  animals  and  some  from 
vegetables.  Some  can  supply  all  the  protein  needs  of 
the  body,  some  only  part  of  them.  That  is  why,  if 
we  eat  milk,  cheese,  eggs,  or  fish,  we  can  do  without 
meat  altogether;  but  if  we  depend  upon  beans  and 
peas,  we  need  some  milk,  or  eggs,  or  meat  besides. 


24  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

Fish  is  an  excellent  substitute  for  meat;  but  it  is  a 
pity  that  we  have  so  many  whims  and  prejudices  about 
it,  and  fancy  that  a  new  kind  of  fish  cannot  be  good 
because  we  have  never  heard  of  it  before.  If  you  make 
a  list  of  the  kinds  offish  that  you  are  accustomed  to  eat, 
you  will  find  it  a  very  short  one,  and  yet  there  are  at 
least  seventy  kinds  of  salt  water  fish  and  thirty  of 
fresh  water  fish  that  we  might  be  using  as  food.  A 
number  of  these  that  we  do  not  know  are  fully  as  good 
as  those  that  we  are  accustomed  to  eating.  Besides 
this  we  have  salted,  and  dried,  and  canned  fish.  Many 
other  countries  use  much  more  fish  than  we.  We  eat 
on  an  average  only  about  one-third  of  a  pound  a  week 
each,  and  most  of  us  eat  it  only  one  day  a  week.  Cana- 
dians average  more  than  one  pound,  and  English  people 
average  one  and  one-fourth  pounds.  It  is  fooHsh  and 
narrow  minded  to  be  afraid  to  try  new  kinds. 

Milk  is  one  of  the  best  protein  foods  we  have,  the 
very  best  for  children.  People  often  think  of  milk  as 
a  drink  rather  than  a  food  because  it  is  a  liquid;  but 
they  ought  to  learn  that  a  glass  of  milk  has  as  much  pro- 
tein as  a  large  egg  or  one  and  one-third  ounces  of  meat. 

Many  people  look  upon  milk  as  merely  a  luxury,  and 
therefore  they  are  ready  to  strike  it  out  of  their  fare 
if  its  price  rises.  It  is  a  pity  that  they  do  not  under- 
stand how  necessary  a  food  milk  is.  Compared  with 
other  protein  foods  it  is  not  expensive.  Do  you  know 
that  when  milk  is  fifteen  cents  a  quart  and  eggs  sixty 
cents  a  dozen,  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  will  buy  more 


FOODS  THAT  HELP  BUILD  THE  BODY    25 

protein  in  the  form  of  milk  than  in  that  of  eggs,  and  as 
much  as  in  beef  at  thirty-five  cents  a  pound  ?  Milk, 
too,  contains  fat  and  sugar  and  other  things  that  the 
body  needs.  It  is  a  better  source  of  Hme  than  any 
other  food,  besides  containing  the  substances  called 
vitamines  that  we  have  just  begun  to  know  about. 
Every  boy  and  girl  ought  to  have  at  least  a  pint  of 
milk  a  day,  and  every  child  under  six  should  use  a  quart, 
while  grown  people  should  have  some  every  day.  Buy 
milk  and  save  money  is  a  good  slogan  for  the  house- 
keeper. 

Even  in  skim  milk  and  in  buttermilk  most  of  the 
protein  and  milk  sugar  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
lime  of  the  whole  milk  are  found.  Cottage  cheese, 
even  when  made  of  skim  milk,  is  a  good  substitute  for 
meat.  American  cheese,  too,  may  be  used  in  place  of 
meat,  and  has  one  advantage  over  milk  in  that  it  is 
not  so  bulky.  A  cube  of  cheese  measuring  one  and 
one-fourth  inches  will  furnish  about  as  much  protein 
as  a  glass  of  milk.  Unluckily,  we  are  not  very  sensible 
in  our  use  of  cheese.  We  ought  to  remember  that  it  is 
one  of  the  hearty  foods  and  eat  it  in  place  of  other  pro- 
tein foods  instead  of  when  we  have  already  had  enough. 

Four  large  eggs  contain  about  an  ounce  of  protein, 
and  so  does  a  quart  of  milk,  or  half  a  cup  of  cottage 
cheese,  or  one  and  three-fourths  cups  of  baked  beans, 
or  one-third  of  a  pound  of  meat.  Certainly,  there  is  no 
monotony  in  protein  foods  and  every  taste  ought  to  be 
suited  with  one  or  another  of  them.     When  the  house- 


26 


FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 


keeper  goes  to  buy  protein  foods,  however,  she  must 
remember  that  from  day  to  day  her  family  will  need 
variety,  and  that  some  of  her  daily  supply  of  protein 
should  always  come  from  milk. 

A  wise  man  has  said  that  no  family  should  buy  meat 
until  at  least  a  pint  of  milk  has  been  bought  for  each 
member. 

It  is  worth  remembering: 
That  protein  is  found  in  a  great  variety  of  food, 

both  animal  and  vegetable. 

That  protein  supplies  food  for  growth  and  repair; 

and  that  it  is  therefore  of  the  first  importance. 

That  there  are  different  kinds  of  protein  and  that 

we  need  a  variety,  unless  we  get  enough  of  the 

one  best  kind  of  protein  food,  milk. 

That  meat  is  not  necessary  if  we  use  the  right 

foods  in  its  place. 
That  we  ought  to  use  more  fish  and  to  learn  to 

know  more  varieties. 
That  to  buy  milk  is  a  cheap  way  to  get  protein. 
That  every  child  needs  milk  each  day. 


CHAPTER  V 
CEREALS,  FOODS  RICH  IN  STARCH 

If  the  children  are  fortunate  enough  to  live  in  the 
country  they  will  feel  especially  at  home  when  they 
come  to  the  third  booth,  for  here  are  the  cereals,  wheat, 
rye,  corn,  rice,  oats,  barley,  and  buckwheat,  most  of 
them  ground  into  flour  or  meal.  Of  course,  these  are 
not  so  interesting  in  their  boxes  and  bags  as  when  they 
were  growing  in  the  fields,  but  they  must  be  looked  upon 
with  profound  respect,  for  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  the  world  people  eat  more  cereals  than  any 
other  one  kind  of  food.  They  are  the  cheapest  of  the 
fuel  foods,  they  are  easy  to  raise,  and  they  are  con- 
venient to  store  away  because  they  are  almost  dry 
and  they  do  not  spoil  easily.  A  wise  man  once  said 
that  he  hated  to  see  anything  take  up  more  room  than 
it  was  worth,  but  he  would  never  have  said  that  of 
cereals. 

From  cereals  we  get  most  of  our  starchy  food,  and 

27 


28  FCOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

the  chief  business  of  this  is  to  supply  us  with  energy. 
It  has  been  kindly  planned  for  us  that,  even  if  we  can- 
not get  food  from  the  group  best  adapted  to  supply 
some  special  need  of  our  bodies,  food  of  another  group 
may  answer  the  purpose  to  some  degree.  The  foods  in 
the  second  group  are  the  best  providers  of  protein, but  the 
cereal  foods  also  will  give  us  much  of  the  protein  that 
we  need. 

The  green  things  growing  are  a  wise  folk. 
They  act  as  if  they  understood  just  what  was  best  for 
themselves  and  also  for  the  little  plants  that  are  to 
follow  them.  If  you  look  at  a  kernel  of  corn,  you  will 
see,  close  to  the  end  which  clings  to  the  cob,  a  small, 
yellowish  part  which  often  slips  out  when  one  is  eating 
green  corn.  This  part  is  called  the  embryo,  or  germ, 
and  it  contains  the  life  of  the  kernel.  It  is  always  in  a 
hurry  to  begin  to  grow,  and  if  it  is  only  given  some  water 
and  left  quietly  in  a  dark,  warm  place,  it  will  set  to 
work  promptly.  Nothing  can  grow  without  food, 
however,  plants  no  more  than  babies,  and  the  mother 
plant  has  looked  out  for  this  very  moment.  The 
embryo  itself  contains  protein  and  fat;  but  she  has 
carefully  packed  this  embryo  into  the  kernel,  and  most 
of  the  kernel  is  made  up  of  starch  and  other  materials, 
which  are  just  the  proper  food  to  give  the  embryo 
energy  to  push  out  of  the  kernel,  produce  its  little 
roots  and  leaves,  and  set  up  for  itself  in  the  world. 
This  is  the  early  Hfe  not  only  of  corn,  but  of  all  the 
grains. 


CEREALS,  FOODS  RICH  IN  STARCH      29 

In  the  olden  times,  beautiful  stories  arose  from  the 
facts  of  nature,  and  gradually  became  part  of  the 
religion  of  the  people.  They  taught  their  children 
that  Mother  Earth,  or  Ceres,  brought  forth  grain  from 
the  ground  for  them.  They  worshipped  her  and  made 
offerings  to  induce  her  to  give  them  generous  harvests. 
They  made  statues  of  her  as  a  kind  and  gracious  woman, 
bearing  a  horn  of  plenty  filled  to  overflowing  with  golden 
sheaves  of  grain.  They  delighted  in  the  story  that 
Pluto,  king  of  the  underworld,  once  stole  away  her 
little  daughter  to  make  her  his  queen.  He  gave  her 
jewels  and  all  the  precious  treasures  that  are  found  in  the 
earth,  but  still  she  was  sad  and  longed  for  her  mother 
and  the  sunshine  of  the  upper  world;  and  at  length 
the  king  of  the  Gods  declared  that  the  little  daughter 
might  spend  halfof  every  year  with  Ceres  above  ground; 
that  is,  putting  it  into  the  language  of  to-day,  the  kernel 
of  grain  spends  part  of  the  year  underground  and  part 
in  the  air  and  sunshine.  It  is  perhaps  because  of  this 
myth  of  Ceres  that  we  picture  autumn,  the  harvest 
time,  as  a  woman  bearing  sheaves  of  grain  or  ears  of 
corn.     Whittier  wrote: 

"Heap  high  the  farmer's  wintry  hoard! 
Heap  high  the  golden  corn! 
No  richer  gift  has  Autumn  poured 
From  out  her  lavish  horn!" 

The  grains  take  their  name  of  cereals  from  Ceres. 
To  us  corn  means  Indian  corn  or  maize,  but  it  is  really 


30  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

another  name  for  grain,  and  in  other  countries  is  often 
given  to  the  kind  of  grain  that  is  most  famiHar  there.  To 
manyEngHshmen  an  "ear  of  corn  "would  mean  ahead  of 
wheat;  to  the  Scotchman,  oats;  to  the  Scandinavian,  rye. 
In  the  Old  Testament  story  of  Joseph's  brothers  com- 
ing to  Egypt  to  buy  "corn"  because  there  was  a 
famine  in  their  own  country,  "corn"  means  wheat  or 
millet,  and  not  the  maize  of  America.  Originally  "corn" 
meant  kernel,  and  this  is  its  meaning  in  the  words  of 
Jesus,  "Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and 
die,  it  abideth  alone." 

Cereals  are  all  good  manufacturers  of  starch,  but 
they  need  sunshine,  and  our  American  corn  especially 
needs  the  sun.  That  is  why  hot,  sunny  days  are 
called  "good  corn  weather."  The  starch  in  cereals  is 
closely  packed  into  tiny  cells  with  thin  walls  of  cel- 
lulose, the  substance  that  gives  plants  their  form  and 
stiffens  their  stems.  The  stems  are  older  than  the 
twigs,  and  therefore,  contain  more  cellulose;  that  is 
why  they  are  stifFer,  just  as  young  radishes  are  tender, 
but  as  they  grow  older,  they  form  more  of  this  substance 
and  become  tough.  We  do  not  digest  cellulose  readily, 
but  some  things  are  useful  even  if  they  are  not  digested. 
Cellulose  is  one  of  them,  for  it  helps  food  to  move  on 
through  the  entire  digestive  tract. 

Cereals  are  easy  to  cook,  but  they  do  need  to  be 
cooked  a  long  time.  This  is  because  the  little  cells 
must  be  swelled  with  heat  and  moisture  till  they  spread 
apart  and  their  walls  break  down  and  set  free  the  tiny 


32  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

grains  of  starch.  To  save  time  in  cooking,  many 
people  buy  the  prepared  cereals  that  are  half  cooked 
or  entirely  cooked  before  they  are  put  on  the  market. 
What  are  called  "rolled  oats"  are  oats  steamed  and 
then  crushed  between  heavy  rollers,  in  order  to  break 
down  the  walls  of  the  cells  and  set  the  starch  free. 

There  is  very  little  difference  in  the  amount  of 
starch  or  other  materials  contained  in  the  different 
cereals.  We  have  fallen  into  the  habit  of  using  wheat 
in  its  various  forms  more  than  the  other  grains,  chiefly 
because  it  makes  lighter  raised  bread,  but  it  is  not  at 
all  necessary,  and  the  others  will  fill  its  place  in  the 
work  of  feeding  the  body. 

Some  fruits  and  many  vegetables  contain  starch, 
though  not  in  nearly  so  large  quantities  as  the  grains. 
The  legumes,  for  instance,  peas,  beans,  lentils,  and 
peanuts,  besides  attending  to  their  chief  business 
as  makers  of  protein,  also  manufacture  considerable 
starch.  Another  name  for  the  legumes  is  the  butter- 
fly plants,  because  their  blossoms  look  like  little  butter- 
flies with  their  wings  spread.  These  pretty  little 
plants  work  hard  to  make  food  for  us.  They  are  no 
"slackers." 

Some  of  the  fruits  and  vegetables  which  manufacture 
starch  as  well  as  sugar  contain  both  substances  at  the 
same  time,  and  sometimes  one  changes  into  the  other. 
Bananas  and  apples  contain  much  starch  when  they 
are  young  and  green,  and  much  sugar  when  they  are 
older.     That  is  why  they  can  be  eaten  cooked  before 


CEREALS,  FOODS  RICH  IN  STARCH      33 

they  are  ripe  enough  to  eat  raw.  There  is  a  pretty 
experiment  that  can  be  tried  with  apples  and  a  few 
drops  of  weak  iodine,  showing  the  change  of  starch 
into  sugar.  Cut  a  half-ripe  apple  in  two  at  right 
angles  with  the  stem,  and  put  a  little  iodine  on  the 
surface.  Whenever  starch  meets  iodine,  it  turns  blue; 
and  the  surface  of  this  apple  will  turn  to  a  deep,  rich 
blue.  Do  the  same  thing  later  in  the  season,  and 
although  the  apple  will  be  blue,  it  will  not  be  of  nearly 
so  deep  a  shade.  By  and  by,  when  the  apple  is  ripe, 
you  will  find  that  the  iodine  will  bring  out  hardly  a 
trace  of  color.  That  is,  the  apple  has  changed  its 
starch  into  sugar. 

In  the  shortage  of  grain,  the  potato  is  an  excellent 
substitute.  The  potato  is  a  tuber,  that  is,  a  part  of 
the  stem  which  grows  underground,  thickens,  and  forms 
a  storehouse  which  is  filled  with  starch.  Every  "eye" 
is  capable  of  becoming  a  plant,  and  in  the  first  place, 
the  potato  probably  contained  only  what  starch  the 
eyes  would  need  for  their  own  growth.  We  have 
cultivated  the  potato,  however,  and  so  increased  the 
amount  of  starch  that  it  is  now  of  much  value  for  food. 

A  potato  is  really  very  interesting,  not  nearly  so 
commonplace  as  it  looks.  The  courtly  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  thought  potatoes  a  gift  fit  to  bestow  upon  a 
queen,  and  more  than  three  hundred  years  ago  he  is 
said  to  have  taken  some  from  America  to  give  to  Queen 
Elizabeth.  If  you  cut  a  thin  slice  crosswise  from  the 
middle  of  a  raw  potato  and  hold  it  up  to  the  light,  you 


34  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

will  see  that  it  is  not  the  same  all  the  way  through. 
Next  to  the  skin  there  is  a  layer  half  an  inch  thick  or 
less  that  is  more  nearly  transparent  than  the  rest. 
From  the  middle  of  the  potato,  irregular  rays  stretch 
out  toward  the  skin  in  a  sort  of  star.  The  sweet 
potato  contains  much  sugar,  but  the  greater  part  of 
both  white  and  sweet  potatoes  is  made  up  of  little 
irregular  rooms  or  cells,  the  walls  of  which  are  made  of 
cellulose,  and  each  cell  is  a  tiny  storeroom  full  of 
starch. 

Chewing  even  a  raw  potato  will  break  open  the  cells 
and  set  free  much  of  this  starch,  but  of  course  the  potato 
becomes  far  more  palatable  if  it  is  cooked.  There  is 
much  water  in  a  potato,  and  heat  will  expand  it  and 
break  the  cells  apart,  and  the  Httle  grains  of  starch 
will  swell;  and  now  the  tuber  is  more  fit  for  food  and 
will  give  a  generous  supply  of  energy.  If  you  happen 
to  be  a  Boy  Scout,  and  know  how  to  cook  without  a 
stove,  you  can  roast  potatoes  out  of  doors,  but  you  will 
not  carry  them  on  a  mountain  trip,  because  they  con- 
tain so  much  water  that  they  are  very  heavy  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  nourishment  in  them.  That 
is  why  potatoes  are  not  so  good  to  send  across  the 
ocean  as  the  grains,  which  contain  little  water  and  are 
almost  solid  food. 

It  is  worth  remembering: 
That  most  of  our  starchy  food  conies  from  cereals. 
That  cereals  are  the  cheapest  source  of  energy; 
but  must  be  thoroughly  cooked. 


CEREALS,  FOODS  RICH  IN  STARCH      35 

That  there  is  little  difference  in  the  food  value  of 

the  various  cereals. 
That   some   fruits   and   vegetables    manufacture 

starch  as  well  as  sugar. 
That  the  potato  is  a  good  substitute  for  grain. 
That  if  you'  eat  more  peas  and  beans  you  will  not 

need  so  much  bread. 


Counting  the  Full  Sap  Buckets  in  Maple  Sugar  Time 


CHAPTER  VI 


SUGAR  AND  SWEETS 

The  fourth  booth  in  the  great  fair  is  the  one  that 
many  children  will  hke  best,  for  here  is  sugar  of  every 
kind  that  you  ever  heard  of — cane  sugar,  beet  sugar, 
maple  sugar,  and  even  sugar  of  milk.  There  are  also 
substitutes  for  sugar,  .such  as  honey,  molasses,  glucose, 
and  corn  sirup.  Besides  these,  there  are  preserves  and 
jam,  and  there  are  more  kinds  of  candy  than  you  ever 
imagined  even  in  a  dream  of  fairyland. 

Sugar  is  so  agreeable  that  we  are  often  inclined  to 
eat  it  in  too  large  quantities  or  at  the  wrong  time. 
Children  are  often  told  that  if  they  eat  sugar  before 
dinner,  it  will  "spoil  their  appetite."  This  is  because 
eating  it  makes  you  feel  as  if  you  did  not  care  for  any- 
thing more,  even  though  all  the  time  your  body  may 
be  in  need  of  other  food. 

We  eat  sugar  quite  as  much  because  we  like  it  as 
because  we  need  it.     We  can  get  from  fruit  and  vege- 

37 


38  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

tables,  especially  dried  fruit,  all  that  we  really  require, 
though  our  food  would  not  be  so  appetizing  without 
some  Sugar. 

In  one  way,  however,  sugar  is  of  great  value  as  a 
food.  You  know  that  soldiers  sometimes  carry  an 
**  emergency  ration,"  which  is  not  to  be  used  unless 
their  regular  supply  of  food  has  given  out.  Sugar  is  a 
sort  of  emergency  ration.  If  you  are  climbing  a  moun- 
tain, a  lump  of  sugar  or  a  few  raisins  now  and  then  will 
help  you  on.  Soldiers  find  that  they  can  stand  a  hard 
march  better  if  they  have  sugar.  Of  course  some  other 
food,  like  bread,  for  instance,  or  a  baked  potato,  would 
answer  the  purpose;  but  they  have  no  time  to  stop  and 
cook,  and  if  they  had,  these  foods  would  take  a  longer 
time  to  digest  and  yield  energy.  Then,  too,  soldiers 
like  it,  and  it  makes  up  to  them  in  part  for  the  sweet 
dessert  most  of  them  have  had  at  home.  These  are  two 
reasons  why  we  have  had  to  be  as  saving  of  sugar  as 
possible,  in  order  to  send  it  to  them. 

When  people  speak  of  sugar,  they  usually  have  in 
mind  a  bowl  of  white  granulated  sugar,  but  this  is  by 
no  means  fair  to  the  other  varieties.  Nearly  all  our 
sugar  comes  from  plants.  Until  about  a  century  ago, 
all  granulated  sugar  was  made  from  the  sugar  cane. 
This  is  really  a  kind  of  grass,  but  a  grass  that  might 
grow  in  a  country  of  giants,  for  it  is  ten  or  fifteen  feet 
in  height,  sometimes  even  twenty.  The  juice  or  sap  is 
so  sweet  that  children — and  grown-up  people,  too — like 
to  suck  bits  of  the  stalk. 


SUGAR  AND  SWEETS  39 

These  stalks  are  crushed  in  a  mill  and  passed  between 
rollers  to  squeeze  out  the  juice.  Solids  are  filtered  out, 
then  the  liquid  is  boiled  several  times,  the  sugar  crystal- 
lizing after  each  boihng  and  being  removed.  This  gives 
what  is  called  raw  sugar.  It  is  brown,  and  to  make  it 
white  it  has  to  be  washed  and  filtered  through  a  special 
kind  of  charcoal  made  from  bone,  and  then  crystallized 
again.  This  is  what  we  call  refining  it.  The  refined 
sugar  is  of  a  slightly  creamy  color,  and  sometimes  it  is 
blued  to  make  it  look  white.  If  you  examine  a  few 
grains  through  a  magnifying  glass,  you  will  find  that 
each  grain  is  a  Httle  crystal.  Molasses  is  what  is  called 
a  "by-product"  of  sugar-making.  It  contains  a  large 
amount  of  sugar,  but  to  get  all  this  sugar  into  a  crystal- 
lized form  is  a  thing  that  the  ordinary  methods  of 
sugar-making  have  not  yet  succeeded  in  doing.  Mo- 
lasses is  rich  in  lime,  and  so  is  better  than  sugar  for 
growing  children. 

Sugar  is  also  made  from  large,  sweet  beets.  These 
are  cut  into  slices,  and  the  juice  is  extracted  and  puri- 
fied. Then  the  Hquid  is  evaporated,  and  a  sugar  re- 
sults which  is  exactly  the  same  thing  as  cane  sugar. 
It  will  make  jelly  and  do  everything  else  that  cane 
sugar  will  do.  Before  the  war,  the  French  raised  large 
quantities  of  sugar  beets;  but  France's  beet-bearing 
lands  have  been  partly  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  or 
within  the  fighting  zone  and  now,  even  though  they 
have  been  recovered,  they  will  be  in  no  condition  for 
agriculture  for  a  long  time  to  come. 


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SUGAR  AND  SWEETS  41 

The  same  kind  of  sugar  comes  from  one  kind  of  maple 
tree  that  grows  in  many  parts  of  this  country.  About 
the  maple  there  is  a  charming  story  that,  when  one  day 
the  Lord  of  the  Green  Things  Growing  came  to  visit 
his  garden,  the  plants  were  all  eager  to  make  him  some 
gift.  The  rose  and  the  lily  gave  their  blossoms;  the 
apple  and  the  orange  and  the  nut  trees  gave  their  fruit 
and  were  happy.  The  maple  alone  was  troubled,  for 
she  had  neither  blossoms  nor  fruit  to  give  him.  At  last 
she  said  sadly,  "I  have  no  beautiful  blossoms  and  no 
delicious  fruit,  but  I  will  gladly  give  you  my  own 
heart's  blood."  And  that  is  the  way,  according  to  the 
legend,  that  the  first  maple  sugar  came  into  being; 

To  make  maple  sugar,  a  hole  is  bored  a  little  way  into 
the  tree  and  a  "spile"  pushed  in.  Through  this  spile 
the  sap  trickles  down  into  a  bucket,  then  is  poi  red 
into  a  kettle  or  a  modern  evaporator,  and  some  of  the 
water  boiled  out,  leaving  maple  syrup.  Evaporatmg 
more  of  the  water  will  leave  a  mushy — but  delicious — 
wet  brown  sugar;  and  what  remains  after  still  more 
evaporating  is  poured  into  moulds,  and  soon  cakes 
of  "new  maple  sugar"  are  for  sale  in  the  stores.  Maple 
sugar  could  be  refined  and  made  white,  but  it  would 
lose  the  characteristic  flavor  which  people  like  so  well. 

Another  kind  of  sugar  is  found  in  honey.  In  ancient 
times,  before  people  had  learned  how  to  get  sugar  from_ 
plants,  honey  was  very  much  prized  because  it  was  their 
only  sweetening,  and  a  land  "flowing  with  milk  and 
honey"  was  their  way  of  describing  a  rich  and  fertile 


42  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

country.  To  offer  a  guest  milk  and  honey  was  a  special 
courtesy.  People  of  those  times  were  very  particular 
where  their  honey  came  from,  and  the  ancient  poets 
had  much  to  say  about  the  wonderfully  good  quality 
of  that»from  a  mountain  in  Greece  named  Hymettus. 
Honey  still  comes  from  that  mountain,  and  it  is  exceed- 
ingly good;  but  persons  who  have  tried  it  and  also  the 
honey  made  in  America  from  the  blossoms  of  basswood, 
or  of  white  clover,  say  that  the  American  honey  is  fully 
as  deHcate. 

A  kind  of  sugar  called  glucose  is  found  in  many  fruits 
and  vegetables,  and  also  in  honey.  There  is  so  much 
in  grapes  that  it  is  sometimes  called  grape  sugar. 
One  form  of  this  kind  of  sugar  is  made  from  the  starch 
of  corn,  and  is  called  corn  sugar  when  it  is  sold  in  the 
solid  form,  or  corn  sirup  when  it  is  liquid.  It  is  of 
common  use  in  confectionery,  jelly,  preserves,  and 
in  canning.  It  is  used,  too,  as  a  table  sirup.  In  many 
countries  the  same  sugar  is  made  from  potato  starch. 

In  parts  of  our  country  a  sirup  is  made  from  sorghum, 
a  plant  that  has  been  known  in  China  for  many  cen- 
turies. Many  farmers  in  a  community  will  grow  a 
held  of  sorghum  cane,  which  is  not  unlike  the  sugar  cane 
m  appearance.  One  farmer  will  set  up  the  mill  and 
grind  this  cane  for  his  neighbors.  The  cane  comes  to 
the  mill  heaped  high  in  large  wagons  and  the  product 
is  returned  to  the  farmers  in  the  large  cans  or  vats 
provided  for  the  purpose.  The  mill  is  a  simple  affair 
erected  out  of  doors  and  turned  by  a  horse  or  mule 


44  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

walking  round  and  round,  but  it  grinds  the  cane  under 
heavy  pressure  and  forces  out  the  greenish,  strong- 
tasting  juice.  The  sirup  is  boiled  in  a  series  of  large 
pans  supported  on  bricks  over  a  fire,  and  so  arranged 
that  the  sirup  as  it  boils  runs  over  from  the  higher  into 
the  lower  pans,  leaving  behind  the  impurities  and  be- 
coming clearer.  When  it  flows  from  the  last  pan  it  is 
clear  and  thick  and  ready  for  table  use.  Ribbon  cane 
sirup  is  prepared  in  many  places  in  the  south  in  the 
same  way. 

Not  only  sugar  cane  and  beets  and  maple  trees  con- 
tain sugar  in  their  sap,  but  many  other  plants  and  some 
of  the  vegetables  that  we  use  commonly.  The  chief 
difficulty  is  that  there  is  not  enough  in  them  to  make  it 
worth  while  to  extract  it  for  the  market.  Fruits, 
especially  sun-dried  fruits,  contain  a  good  deal  of  sugar. 
Raisins,  for  instance,  which  will  often  take  the  place  of 
sugar,  are  exceedingly  sweet,  and  they  are  merely  grapes 
dried  in  the  sun,  and  contain  only  the  sugar  that  was 
in  them  in  the  first  place.  Cakes  and  desserts  that  have 
raisins  in  them  do  not  need  so  much  sugar.  Dates  and 
figs  are  also  good  to  use  in  place  of  sugar. 

While  most  of  our  sugar  comes  from  plants,  some  is 
found  in  the  animal  kingdom.  If  skim  milk  or  whey 
is  boiled  till  most  of  the  water  is  evaporated,  and  is 
allowed  to  stand  quietly  for  a  while,  tiny  crystals  form 
and  drop  to  the  bottom  of  the  dish.  This  is  milk  sugar. 
It  is  an  expensive  kind  of  sugar.  To  make  one  quart 
of  it  takes  at  least    twenty    quarts    of  milk.     It    is 


SUGAR  AND  SWEETS 


45 


not  so  sweet  as  ordinary  sugar.  Sugar  of  milk  is 
used  in  dry  medicines.  If  you  are  ever  given  small 
pills  that  taste  rather  sweet,  you  may  be  almost  sure 
that  they  are  made  of  sugar  of  milk  mixed  with  what- 
ever medicine  is  needed.  It  is  used  too  for  babies'  food. 
It  is  worth  remembering: 
That  sugar  should  be  eaten  in  small  quantities 

and  never  before  meals. 
That  sugar  is  of  value  chiefly  as  an  "emergency 

ration'*  and  to  make  other  foods  palatable. 
That  sweet  fruits  will  give  us  much  of  the  sugar 

we  need,  and  other  important  things  as  well. 
That  many  fruits  and  some  vegetables  contain 
sugar,  but  only  a  few  of  them  in  sufHciehtly 
large  quantities  to  pay  for  extracting. 


CHAPTER  VII 
FATS  AND  FATTY  FOODS 

If  children  are  asked  if  they  Hke  fat,  they  usually 
say  "no"  very  scornfully,  for  "fat"  means  to  them 
the  fat  which  comes  on  meat,  or  the  blubber  of 
whales  that  is  eaten  by  the  Esquimaux  of  the  frozen 
North;  and  yet  the  average  amount  of  fat  eaten,  or 
wasted,  every  day  by  people  in  this  country  is  about 
five  and  one-half  ounces,  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
pound,  and  most  children  as  well  as  grown  people 
would  think  it  pretty  hard  if  they  had  to  do  with- 
out it. 

When  the  children  who  are  doing  the  marketing 
come  to  the  booth  of  fats,  what  will  they  see?  They 
will  see  a  good  supply  of  more  appetizing  articles  than 
pieces  of  fat  meat  and  blubber.  They  will  see  rich, 
sweet  cream,  golden  butter,  bacon,  and  nuts,  as  well 
as  suet,  nut  oils,  lard,  and  dripping.  Chocolate  and 
peanut  butter  and  cocoanut  will  be  here  too.     Surely, 

4.7 


48  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

the  children  will  find  something  for  their  market  basket 
which  they  will  really  Hke. 

The  most  common  form  in  which  fat  appears  on  the 
table  is  butter,  the  fat  of  milk.  Fat  is  Hghter  than  the 
rest  of  the  milk,  so  it  rises  to  the  top  in  the  form  of 
cream  and  is  skimmed  off.  Then  it  is  poured  into  a 
churn  and  kept  in  motion  with  a  dasher  or  paddle-wheel 
until  the  butter  *' comes,''  that  is,  until  the  fat  has 
separated  from  the  rest  of  the  milk  and  is  floating  about 
the  buttermilk  in  tiny  masses.  The  motion  is  what 
causes  the  separation,  and  many  a  time  a  bottle  of 
cream  taken  to  a  picnic  in  a  carriage  or  automobile 
has  reached  the  picnic  grounds  in  the  shape  of  butter. 
A  few  years  ago,  there  was  in  the  Patent  Office  in 
Washington  a  model  of  an  odd  sort  of  churn,  on  which 
some  inventive  genius  had  appHed  for  a  patent.  It  was 
in  the  shape  of  a  rocking  chair  which,  instead  of  arms, 
had  cylinders.  These  were  to  be  filled  with  cream; 
then  the  butter  maker  was  to  sit  down  in  the  chair  and 
rock  comfortably  until  the  butter  had  come. 

After  the  fat  has  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  milk, 
it  is  worked  and  washed  to  make  sure  that  the  butter- 
milk is  out  of  it;  then  it  is  salted  and  is  now  ready  to  be 
eaten.  Of  course  creameries  do  all  this  work  by  ma- 
chinery, but  it  is  not  at  all  difficult  to  make  a  Httle 
butter  with  a  bowl  of  cream  and  an  egg-beater,  and  it 
will  taste  just  as  good  as  if  it  came  from  the  best  of 
creameries. 

The   things   nearest   like   butter   are   oleomargarine 


FATS  AND  FATTY  FOODS      49 

and  nut  margarine.  Oleomargarine  is  made  chiefly 
of  the  fat  of  beef  mixed  with  extra  pure  lard  and  cot- 
tonseed oil  and  churned  up  with  milk.  It  is  therefore 
a  mixture  of  animal  and  vegetable  fats.  Nut  marga- 
rine is  made  of  vegetable  oils,  such  as  cocoanut,  cotton- 
seed, and  peanut. 

Some  plants  produce  a  large  quantity  of  oil.  Two- 
fifths  of  the  flesh  of  the  olive  is  oil,  and  there  is  even 
more  than  that  amount  in  the  kernel.  Cottonseed 
is  one-fourth  oil.  Even  corn  and  oat  meal  contain 
some  fat.  The  kernel  of  the  peanut  is  nearly  two- 
thirds  oil.  Cocoanut  contains  a  great  deal.  The  nut 
trees  are  so  successful  in  their  oil  manufacture  that  if 
they  were  men,  they  would  surely  make  their  fortunes. 
If  you  put  a  thin  sHce  of  almost  any  nut  between  two 
pieces  of  paper  and  strike  it  lightly  with  a  hammer, 
the  paper  will  show  a  greasy  mark. 

Nuts  are  usually  eaten  at  precisely  the  wrong  time, 
for  nuts,  like  all  fats,  are  highly  concentrated  food,  and 
to  eat  a  saucer  of  them  as  dessert  after  a  hearty  dinner 
is  almost  as  foolish  as  it  would  be  to  eat  a  dessert  of 
roast  pork  after  a  dinner  of  roast  beef.  Nuts  should 
not  be  eaten  just  for  flavor  after  a  meal,  but  as  part  ot 
the  meal  itself,  and  as  a  substantial  food. 

Since  fat  is  to  be  found  in  so  many  diflPerent  places 
and  in  so  many  varieties,  any  one  whose  taste  cannot  be 
suited  by  one  kind  or  another  must  be  hard  to  please. 
In  a  tablespoonful  of  butter  there  is  about  half  an 
ounce  of  fat;  but  if  you  do  not  care  to  eat  the  butter. 


50  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

you  can  get  the  same  amount  by  eating  an  inch  cube  of 
cheese,  or  twenty-nine  peanut  kernels,  or  better  still  a 
pint  of  milk.     Surely  every  one  ought  to  be  satisfied. 

Fat  is  too  concentrated  a  food  to  be  eaten  by  itself. 
We  put  butter  on  bread,  cream  on  cereals,  and  salad  oil 
on  lettuce;  but  not  many  people  in  a  temperate  climate 
care  to  eat  a  whole  mouthful  of  fat  meat  or  to  drink 
a  cup  of  oil.  Often  we  cook  our  fats,  using  them  for 
shortening  or  in  frying.  Food  that  is  fried  has  often 
a  particularly  rich  flavor,  but  frying  needs  more  skill 
than  other  methods  of  cooking  if  the  food  is  to  be  readily 
digested  and  palatable.  Did  you  ever  see  a  doughnut 
that  was  soggy  and  would  leave  a  big  stain  of  grease 
if  laid  on  a  piece  of  paper  because  it  had  not  been 
fried  properly,  or  potatoes  that  were  soaked  in  grease 
instead  of  being  dry  and  crisp .? 

Fat  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  "hearty  food,"  since 
it  enables  us  to  do  hard  work  without  a  "gone  feeling.'* 
This  is  because  it  stays  in  the  stomach  a  long  time. 
After  the  stomach  has  been  empty  a  while,  it  begins  to 
make  remarks  on  the  situation,  and  the  possessor  of 
the  stomach  feels  a  sensation  of  hunger.  A  sHce  of 
bread  with  butter  on  it  keeps  oflF  this  sensation  much 
longer  than  the  bread  alone.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
one  has  eaten  too  much  fat,  one's  stomach  feels  un- 
comfortable and  overloaded.  Most  people  make  the 
mistake  of  thinking  that  for  a  hearty  food  they  must 
buy  meat,  but  this  is  far  from  being  true,  for  it  is  chiefly 
the  fat  in  the  meat  which  makes  it  a  hearty  food  and 


FATS  AND  FATTY  FOODS  51 

this  can  be  obtained  in  other  ways.  People  who  are 
doing  hard  work  need  hearty  or,  as  we  sometimes  say, 
concentrated  food.  This  is  why  we  had  to  save  fat  as 
much  as  possible  in  order  to  send  it  to  the  fighting  men. 

Whether  fats  are  solid  or  liquid  makes  no  difference 
in  their  value  as  food.  So  far  as  that  goes,  a  Brazil 
nut  or  a  little  olive  oil  answers  the  same  purpose. 
There  is  one  thing  that  makes  a  real  difference  be- 
tween the  different  kinds  of  fat.  One  kind  of  the 
vitamines  that  we  talked  about  when  we  were  visiting 
the  fruit  and  vegetable  booth  is  found  in  connection 
with  fat,  though  only  some  fats  contain  it.  This 
is  necessary  for  growth,  so  if  we  are  not  getting  it  in  some 
other  way  we  must  be  particular  about  the  kind  of  fat 
we  choose.  Milk  fat  (butter)  contains  it  and  so  does 
egg  yolk,  and  most  animal  fats,  though  lard  does  not. 
It  has  not  been  found  in  most  Vegetable  oils,  though 
corn  oil  has  it.  If  we  have  plenty  of  milk  and  of  leafy 
vegetables  we  do  not  need  to  think  very  much  about 
this,  for  we  shall  be  quite  sure  to  get  enough. 

By  the  time  that  the  boys  and  girls  with  the  market 
basket  have  finished  their  buying,  they  will  have  col- 
lected a  good  deal  of  valuable  information  about  prices 
and  kinds  of  food.  On  their  next  trip,  they  can  start 
about  their  marketing  in  a  more  businesslike  way, 
keeping  it  in  mind  that  in  order  to  make  sure  of  proper 
nourishment  for  their  family,  part  of  their  food  for 
each  day  should  come  from  each  booth.  How  much 
money  to  spend  is  a  question  that  affects  almost  every- 


52  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

one,  and  the  best  way  to  decide  this  is  by  making  a 
** budget,"  as  a  well  managed  factory  would,  or  just 
as  the  British  Government  does  for  its  expenditures. 
After  learning  how  much  money  can  be  spared  for 
food  each  week,  this  should  be  divided  among  the  five 
groups,  not  haphazard,  but  wisely  and  after  careful 
planning.  Supposing  that  in  a  household  consisting 
of  father,  mother,  and  two  children,  it  has  been  found 
that  $io  a  week  can  be  devoted  to  food,  a  good  plan 
would  be  to  divide  this  among  the  five  food  groups, 
setting  aside  first  a  special  share  for  milk.  If  the  family 
lived  in  the  city  and  everything  had  to  be  bought,  the 
food  budget  might  read  somewhat  like  this: 

Milk $  2 .  20 

Vegetables  and  fruit 2 .  20 

Proteins — eggs,    cottage    cheese,    American    cheese,    fish, 

meat,  dried  beans,  etc 2 .  20 

Cereals,  including  bread 2 .  00 

Sugar  or  other  sweetening .30 

Fats .80 

Sundries .30 

Total $10 .  00 

If  the  father,  mother  and  two  children  together  re- 
quire as  much  food  as  three  men  doing  moderately  hard, 
muscular  work,  then  their  day's  food  supply  might  well 
be  something  like  this: 

Fruit  and  vegetables  (including  potatoes)  at  least 5  pounds 

Milk,  at  least 2  quarts 


FATS  AND  FATTY  FOODS      53 

Eggs,  legumes,  meat,  cheese,  about i  pound 

Cereals  (including  breadstufFs)  about 3  pounds 

or  less  of  these  and  more  potatoes 

Sweets J  to  ^  pound 

Fats ^   to  ^  pound 

A  wise  choice  of  food  is  always  an  important  matter, 
because  upon  this  depends  in  so  great   a  degree   our 
health  and  our  ability  to  do  our  share  of  the  work  of 
the  world.     It  was  especially  important  in  the  days  of 
warfare,  because  America  had  to  provide  so  much  food 
not  only  for  herself  but  also  for  those  who,  together 
with  her,  were  fighting  for  the  freedom  of  the  world. 
It  is  even  more  important  in  these  days  of  reconstruc- 
tion, of  building  up  the  world  anew,  and  of  trying  to 
make  it  a  better  world  than  we  have  ever  had  before. 
It  is  worth  remembering: 
That  fat  exists  in  many  forms. 
That  fat  is  a  hearty  food,  too  concentrated  to  be 

eaten  by  itself. 
That  at  least  a  part  of  our  fatty  food  should  come 
fromrnilk  or  butter  or  from  some  other  sub- 
stance that  contains  the  kind  of  vitamine  found 
with  fat. 
That  to  spend  wisely  we  should  make  a  careful 
plan. 


American  Clothes  and  Real  Milk  Have  Been  Furnished  to  Many 
European  Children 


CHAPTER  VIII 


HUNGRY  EUROPE 

In  one  of  the  magazines  published  during  the  war 
there  are  some  verses  in  which  an  American  baby  is 
supposed  to  speak.  He  tells  of  the  good  times  that 
he  had  and  at  the  end  he  says: 

I'm  fat  and  rosy  and  stuffed  and  pampered  and  happy,  and  maybe 
There's  anything  you  can  think  of  better  to  be  than  an  American 
baby. 

Then  another  little  one  speaks,  a  French  baby,  thin 
and  troubled,  and  with  sad  questioning  eyes.  His 
father  has  been  killed  in  the  war,  and  he  tells  what  a 
lonesome  time  he  has  while  his  mother  is  gone  to  work 
all  day.  He  tells  of  the  miserable  grass  tea  that  is 
all  she  has  to  give  him  to  eat.     Then  he  says: 

Once  in  a  blue  moon,  there's  a  large,  deep-voiced  Person  in  Black 
Called  the  cure,  who  brings  me  real  milk — ^just  a  little,  but,  oh, 
isn't  it  fine! 

55 


56  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

And  when  I  see  it  coming,  warm  and  white,  I'm  in  such  a  hurry 

that  I  whimper  and  whine. 
For  pure  joy,  and  the  Cure  smiles  a  bit,  watching  me,  and  says 

Fm  the  hope  of  France; 
But  how  can  a  chap  be  the  hope  of  France  when  he  can't  get  erjpugh 

food  to  have  a  chance? 

Before  the  war,  the  little  French  babies  had  enough 
to  eat,  most  of  it  raised  at  home  and  not  brought  in 
from  other  countries.  France  contains  a  large  number 
of  small  farms,  and  nearly  every  one  of  them  was  culti- 
vated by  the  family  that  owned  it.  These  farmers 
were  anxious  of  course  to  have  as  good  crops  as  possible. 
They  were  in  general  wide-awake  people,  and  had  no 
idea  of  carrying  on  their  farms  just  as  their  grandfathers 
had  done.  They  kept  their  eyes  open  for  new  methods 
and  as  soon  as  they  found  one  that  was  an  improvement 
on  their  own,  they  adopted  it.  The  result  was  that 
France  raised  more  of  her  own  food  than  any  other  of 
the  western  Allies.  She  raised  more  than  one-third 
as  much  wheat  as  the  United  States,  and  she  cultivated 
great  quantities  of  sugar  beets.  She  raised  horses 
and  sheep,  but  grass  land  was  not  ample  enough  to  feed 
large  numbers  of  cattle.  There  were,  however,  vine- 
yards without  number;  there  were  peaches  and  cherries 
and  oranges  and  lemons,  and  wherever  nothing  elsewould 
grow,  there  Were  chestnut  trees,  and  of  the  chestnuts 
some  of  the  thrifty  French  people  made  an  excellent 
flour.  The  French  are  never  wasteful,  and  they  do  much 
with  a  little.     France  was  well-fed,  busy,  and  happy. 


HUNGRY  EUROPE  57 

Then  came  the  war,  and  everything  was  changed. 
In  1917,  France  raised  less  than  half  as  much  wheat 
as  usual,  less  than  two-thirds  as  many  potatoes,  and 
only  one-third  as  much  sugar.  Her  numbers  of  cattle^ 
sheep,  and  hogs  had  greatly  decreased.  How  did  the 
war  bring  this  about  .^ 

In  the  first  place,  there  were  no  men  to  work  in  the 
fields.  All  able-bodied  Frenchmen  were  either  fighting, 
making  munitions,  or  helping  to  transport  soldiers  and 
guns  and  supplies.  The  men  left  at  home  were  those 
who  were  too  old  and  feeble  to  do  much  work,  the 
wounded  soldiers,  and  the  sick.  Then,  too,  there  were 
not  so  many  fields  as  formerly.  Some  of  the  richest 
land  in  the  country  was  either  in  the  hands  of  the  Ger- 
mans or  had  been  overrun  by  them. 

War  always  means  destruction,  but  military  com- 
manders of  other  nations  are  proud  of  not  injuring 
non-combatants  and  of  doing  no  harm  to  the  country 
through  which  they  pass  other  than  that  which  will  be 
of  military  value  to  them.  Roads  and  railroads  must 
often  be  destroyed,  wires  and  cables  torn  down,  some- 
times wells  blown  up;  but  the  Germans  set  to  work 
deliberately  to  do  as  much  harm  as  possible.  They  de- 
molished famous  buildings  and  works  of  art;  they  burned 
villages  and  towns;  they  bombed  hospitals;  they  cut 
down  fruit  trees  and  vineyards;  they  poisoned  wells,  and 
did  many  other  cruel  things.  The  result  is  that  people 
who  struggled  back  to  their  old  homes  found  only 
cinders  for  houses  and  waste  land  for  cultivated  fields. 


58  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

These  people  shelter  themselves  as  best  they  can,  but 
it  is  easier  to  put  together  something  for  a  rough  pro- 
tection against  the  weather  than  to  raise  wheat  in  a 
field  that  has  been  torn  to  pieces  by  shells.  But.  the 
French  women  have  done  wonders.  Wherever  it  was 
possible,  a  woman  has  always  been  ready  to  take  the 
place  of  a  man  so  that  the  man  might  help  to  defend 
the  country.  The  women  have  cared  for  their  children 
and  the  sick,  they  have  toiled  at  all  kinds  of  labor  in 
factories  and  workrooms,  caring  not  what  it  was  or 
whether  it  was  hard  or  easy,  if  only  it  would  help 
France.  They  have  ploughed  and  planted  and  reaped. 
Sometimes  a  few  soldiers  could  be  allowed  to  come 
home  to  help  in  harvesting,  and  sometimes  prisoners 
of  war  have  been  of  service  in  the  farm  work;  but  the 
greater  part  of  the  labor  of  raising  food  has  been  done 
by  the  French  women  with  the  aid  of  the  aged  and  the 
children. 

France  needed  more  food  than  before.  The  bravest 
troops  cannot  do  their  best  when  they  are  hungry, 
and  whoever  went  without,  the  soldiers  had  to  be  fed. 
And  then  there  were  the  Frenchmen  who  had  been 
captured  and  who  were  starving  in  German  prison 
camps.  Food  had  to  be  sent  to  them  if"  their  lives  were 
to  be  saved.  The  weather  was  unfavorable  and  the 
crops  failed,  but  still  the  brave  French  women  kept  on, 
weary  and  suffering,  but  not  complaining. 

In  France  to-day,  butter,  cheese,  meat,  and  even 
potatoes    are    enormously   dear.     The   only   food  that 


HUNGRY  EUROPE  59 

everybody  can  afford  to  buy  is  bread.  The  Govern- 
ment has  kept  the  price  of  bread  low;  but  it  is  rationed, 
and  a  ten-ounce  ration  card  does  not  always  mean  that 
its  holder  can  get  in  exchange  the  full  ten  ounces.  In 
some  of  the  mountain  districts,  what  bread  can  be 
bought  is  black  and  has  a  disagreeable  odor.  It  is 
made  of  chestnut  flour  mixed  with  oats,  barley,  and  a 
Httle  buckwheat. 

There  have  been  no  invaders  on  English  soil  as  on 
that  of  France,  but  the  British  have  been  in  the  trenches, 
or  on  warships  in  the  North  Sea,  or  convoying  troops,  or 
making  munitions  in  one  or  another  of  the  5,000  war 
factories  of  England.  Here,  too,  as  in  France,  women 
have  stepped  into  the  vacant  places.  They  have  acted 
as  conductors  on  trains,  as  porters  at  railroad  stations. 
They  have  toiled  in  munition  factories.  The  petted 
daughters  of  noblemen  have  worked  twelve  hours  a 
day  side  by  side  with  women  who  have  known  nothing 
but  toil  all  their  lives;  and  they  have  all  lived  together 
in  little  villages  built  close  to  the  factories.  The  beau- 
tiful velvety  turf  of  England  has  been  ploughed  up  and 
the  great  parks  turned  into  potato  fields;  and  here  too, 
women  have  been  hard  at  work.  In  spite  of  the  labor 
shortage  more  food  was  raised  on  English  soil  the  last 
year  of  the  war  than  ever  before. 

Nevertheless,  food  is  not  plentiful.  One  sort  of  food 
after  another  has  grown  scanty,  then  disappeared. 
Fats  in  general  are  scarce.  There  is  only  a  little  milk, 
and  that  is  saved  for  the  children  and  the  sick.     Turn- 


6o  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

ing  grass  land  into  potato  fields  is  better  to  supply  food 
for  the  people,  but  it  is  not  good  for  the  keeping  of 
cows,  and  many  have  been  killed. 

Everyone  knows  the  brave  and  victorious  struggle 
that  Italy  has  made  at  the  front,  but  not  everyone 
realizes  that  her  fight  with  hunger  has  been  just  as 
brave.  Even  to-day,  her  bread  and  meat  and  sugar — 
what  she  can  get  of  them — are  of  poorer  quahty  than  is 
common  in  any  other  of  the  Allied  countries.  She 
needs  coal  almost  as  badly  as  food,  for  part  of  the  time 
coal  has  cost  $iio  a  ton;  and  even  at  that  price,  the 
railroads  could  hardly  get  enough  to  keep  running.  If 
she  only  had  plenty  of  coal,  what  food  there  is  could 
be  distributed  over  the  country;  but  as  it  is,  even  if 
there  is  sufficient  of  any  kind  of  food  in  one  part  of  the 
land,  there  is  often  no  way  of  getting  it  to  the  other 
parts. 

Belgium  was  far  more  helpless  than  were  these  other 
countries.  Belgium  was  what  is  called  a  neutralized 
state.  The  little  country  is  not  one-fourth  as  large 
as  the  State  of  New  York,  but  it  is  so  situated  that 
any  country  controlling  it  could,  if  she  chose,  do  great 
harm  to  England,  France,  or  Germany.  That  is  why 
these  countries,  as  well  as  Austria  and  Russia,  all  signed 
a  treaty  declaring  that,  no  matter  what  wars  might 
break  out,  no  one  of  them  would  ever  attack  Belgium. 
Belgium,  on  her  side,  promised  that  she  would  never 
favor  any  one  country  to  the  loss  of  any  other. 

Everybody  knows  what  happened  when,  in   191 4, 


HUNGRY  EUROPE  6i 

hundreds  of  thousands  of  German  troops  suddenly 
swarmed  out  of  the  trains  at  Belgium's  frontier  and 
demanded  a  passage  through  the  country.  But  Bel- 
gium refused  to  break  her  promises.  She  marched 
out  her  little  army,  and  how  they  did  fight !  Of  course 
they  could  not  drive  the  hordes  of  Germans  back,  but 
they  did  delay  them  two  full  weeks.  France  and 
England  had  time  to  get  some  troops  into  the  field, 
and  Germany's  plan  to  dash  into  France  and  perhaps 
capture  Paris  before  the  French  could  get  their  troops 
into  position  was  spoiled. 

Everyone  knows,  too,  how  the  German  armies  be- 
haved after  they  had  made  their  way  into  Belgium; 
how  they  murdered  and  tortured  and  looted  and 
destroyed;  how  they  shelled  magnificent  old  buildings 
that  had  been  for  centuries  the  pride  of  the  country; 
how  they  burned  village  after  village  because  some  one 
person  was  perhaps  accused  of  firing  a  single  shot  at 
them.  They  seized  the  railroads,  telephones,  and  tele- 
graphs, the  canals,  the  cars,  and  the  mails.  Every 
little  village  was  cut  oflT  from  every  other.  They 
stopped  all  business;  they  carried  off  to  Germany  all 
that  there  was  in  the  country  of  oil,  wool,  copper,  rubber 
— anything  they  could  make  use  of;  and  then  they  tore 
away  from  their  homes  thousands  of  men,  women, 
boys,  and  girls  and  carried  them  away  to  toil  in  the 
mines  and  factories  of  Germany,  manufacturing  articles 
that  would  be  used  to  help  overpower  their  own  people. 
Of  course  the   Germans   wanted   only   the   well   and 


62  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

strong;  the  old  and  feeble  were  allowed  to  remain. 
Little  food  could  be  left  in  Belgium  after  such  treat- 
ment, and  this  was  quite  according  to  the  plans  of  the 
Germans.  They  were  not  unwilUng  that  the  Belgians 
should  starve.  The  more  that  died  the  better;  then 
the  land  would  be  free  for  them  to  occupy. 

Americans  promptly  sent  food  to  the  Belgians,  and 
four  months  after  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  Com- 
mission for  Relief  in  Belgium  was  formed.  The  wise 
work  of  this  Commission  and  the  generous  sympathy  of 
the  American  people  and  the  AUies  saved  Belgium 
from  starvation.  "Never  has  a  country  had  such 
friends,''  said  the  Belgian  minister.  But  at  best  the 
Belgians  have  had  only  just  enough  to  keep  them  ahve. 
More  than  half  of  them  are  still  in  soup  hues.  If  means 
of  industry  and  happiness  are  to  be  restored  to  their 
country,  food  must  be  provided  in  generous  quantities. 

Roumania,  Serbia,  and  Poland  are  starving;  so  are 
Armenia,  Finland,  and  some  parts  of  Russia.  Ger- 
many swept  through  Roumania,  driving  the  Rouman- 
ians into  a  small  corner  of  their  land,  the  least  fertile  of 
all.  They  had  no  hope  of  resisting  their  foes,  for 
enemies  were  on  all  sides,  and  they  yielded.  But  they 
might  almost  as  well  have  struggled  till  every  Rouman- 
ian had  fallen,  for  here,  as  well  as  in  Serbia  and  Poland 
and  Russia,  the  German  troops  seized  everything  in 
the  shape  of  food  that  they  could  find.  They  searched 
not  only  storehouses  and  stores,  but  all  the  little  cot- 
tages, and  carried  away  everything  that  could  be  eaten. 


HUNGRY  EUROPE  63 

The  German  governor-general  of  Poland  commanded 
that  every  able-bodied  Pole  should  go  to  Germany  to 
work  for  his  conquerors.  This  meant 'that  for  each 
Pole  one  more  German  would  be  set  free  for  the  army. 
If  a  Pole  dared  to  refuse,  it  was  forbidden  for  any 
other  Pole,  even  his  own  brother,  to  give  him  a  mouth- 
ful of  food 

War  is  always  terrible,  and  some  years  ago  representa- 
tives of  the  different  nations  of  the  world  met  at  The 
Hague  in  Holland  and  signed  an  agreement  never  to 
do  certain  things  which  added  to  its  horrors.  One  of 
these  things  was  that  no  conquering  army  should  take 
supplies  from  the  land  it  had  captured  unless  it  paid 
for  what  it  took  and  did  not  leave  the  country  in  want. 
Germany  signed  this  agreement,  but,  as  every  one 
of  the  lands  that  she  has  overpowered  has  learned, 
she  did  not  keep  it.  In  all  these  countries  food  for 
man  and  beast  was  seized,  horses  were  carried  off, 
and  cattle  and  hogs  either  driven  away  or  killed  for  food 
to  supply  the  invaders. 

These  are  the  reasons  why  so  much  of  Europe  is 
suffering  from,  hunger,  why  the  countries  that  have 
been  crushed  by  Germany  are  more  helpless  than  coun- 
tries have  ever  been  before,  and  why  they  appeal  to 
those  who  are  in  comfort  and  plenty  for  a  share  at  the 
"common  table." 

It  is  worth  remembering: 
That  France  formerly  raised  more  of  her  own  food 
than  any  other  of  the  western  Allies. 


64  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

That  much  of  the  fertile  land  of  France  was  over- 
run by  the  Germans. 

That  England,  in  spite  of  her  labor  shortage,  has 
actually  increased  her  production  of  food, 
though  she  still  needs  to  import  a  great  deal. 

That  Belgium,  swept  clean  of  food,  raw  materials, 
and  machinery,  and  with  her  people  weakened 
by  captivity,  is  still  in  sorest  need  of  a  helping 
hand. 

That  Italy  needs  food,  and  also  coal  to  help  dis- 
tribute what  food  she  has. 

That  many  other  countries  of  Europe  must  have 
help  to  keep  their  people  from  starving. 


CHAPTER  IX 
WHERE  IS  THE  FOOD  OF  THE  WORLD? 

If  people  have  not  proper  food  they  soon  grow  thin. 
This  is  because  the  fat  stored  up  in  their  bodies  is  being 
used  up  to  feed  them.  They  can  Hve  on  it  for  some 
time,  just  as  a  bear  is  nourished  by  the  fat  in  his  body 
during  his  long  winter's  sleep;  but  by  and  by,  even 
before  the  fat  gives  out,  the  protein  is  called  upon. 
By  this  time  the  person  is  not  far  from  the  point  of 
starvation. 

Before  the  war  most  of  the  world  got  on  fairly  well 
for  food.  Occasionally  there  was  a  famine  in  one  coun- 
try or.  another,  but  other  countries  sent  ships  of  pro- 
visions or  money  to  buy  provisions.  In  those  days 
provisions  could  always  be  bought  somewhere. 

Why  is  the  condition  of  things  so  diflPerent  now.? 
Where  are  the  grain,  the  meat,  the  fish,  the  fats,  and  the 
sugar  that  used  to  supply  Europe.''  If  a  country  can 
raise  the  money,  why  can  it  not  buy  what  it  needs.? 

6s 


66  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

One  answer  to  these  questions  is  that  there  is  actually 
less  food  in  the  world ;  for  millions  of  men  who  used  to  pro- 
duce it  were  called  into  the  armies  or  to  work  on  muni- 
tions, so  that  less  food  has  been  raised.  Another  answer  is 
that  the  ground  on  the  Continent  which  has  been  fought 
over  is  now  unfit  for  agriculture.  Still  another  is  that 
few  countries,  if  any,  are  in  the  habit  of  supplying  all 
their  own  food,  and  if  they  are  shut  ofF  from  their  usual 
places  of  buying,  they  are  as  much  at  a  loss  as  we 
should  be  if  all  the  provision  stores  should  suddenly 
disappear.  In  some  of  these  countries  the  people  have 
been  so  busy  manufacturing  that  they  found  it  cheaper 
and  easier  to  import  food  than  to  raise  it.  In  others 
there  are  so  many  people  in  proportion  to  the  area  that 
sufficient  land  to  raise  what  they  required  could  not  be 
spared.  Often  the  soil  or  the  climate  is  not  adapted 
to  produce  what  is  needed. 

Then,  too,  there  is  the  question  of  fertihzers.  In 
Europe  the  soil  has  been  cultivated  for  centuries. 
It  will  no  longer  do  well  without  fertiHzers.  The  ni- 
trates, which  are  used  in  fertilizers,  are  found  chiefly 
in  Chile,  and  these  could  not  be  imported  during  the 
war.  Work  animals  have  been  seized  by  the  contending 
armies  or  killed  because  there  was  no  feed  for  them.  As 
a  result  of  all  this,  France  has  raised  less  than  half  of 
the  wheat  that  she  needs  for  her  people.  Poor  Belgium 
has  almost  no  wheat,  and  Italy  only  a  part  of  what  she 
needs.  Though  England  has  increased  her  production,  she 
has  raised  only  one-fourth  enough  to  supply  her  people. 


WHERE  IS  THE  FOOD  OF  THE  WORLD?  67 

Even  before  the  war,  Austria-Hungary  raised  only 
enough  wheat  for  herself,  and  had  little  for  her  neigh- 
bors. As  for  Germany,  she  imported  part  of  her  wheat, 
and  even  what  she  has  looted  from  the  lands  that  she 
has  overrun  has  not  been  as  much  as  she  requires. 
Then,  too,  the  crops  in  these  two  countries  have  not 
been  up  to  the  usual  mark. 

Before  the  war  England,  Ireland,  France,  Italy,  and 
Belgium  imported  750,ooo,cx)0  bushels  of  wheat  in  the 
course  of  a  year.  Russia  and  Roumania  were  near  at 
hand,  both  of  them  fine  wheat  countries,  and  a  large 
quantity  came  from  them.  But  Roumania  was  over- 
run by  the  Germans,  her  farm-lands  were  ruined,  and 
she  has  no  wheat  or  any  other  food  to  send  to  any 
country,  or  even  to  break  the  famine  within  her  own 
boundaries. 

During  the  war  Turkey  closed  the  Bosphorus;  that 
is,  she  allowed  no  ships  to  pass  save  those  of  Germany 
and  Austria,  and  therefore  no  wheat  could  in  any  case 
be  brought  from  Russia  to  the  AUies.  Russia  is  in  a 
turmoil;  the  once  fertile  Ukraine  has  been  in  the  hands 
of  the  Germans;  but  even  if  the  whole  country  were 
united,  many  of  her  own  people  would  still  be  hungry, 
for  there  is  no  way  to  carry  food  from  one  part  of  the 
country  to  another.  Russia  in  Europe  is  one-fourth 
larger  than  all  the  rest  of  the  Continent.  She  has  mil- 
lions of  acres  of  the  best  wheat  land  in  the  world,  but 
few  railroads.  However,  if  the  whole  land  were  criss- 
crossed with  railroads,  they  would  be  of  little  use  be- 


68  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

cause  of  the  lack  of  coal.  Russia's  best  coal  is  mined  in 
the  extreme  south  or  in  Poland,  which  only  the  close  of 
the  war  released  from  the  hands  of  the  Germans. 

Australia  and  India  had  hundreds  of  miUions  of 
bushels  of  wheat.  Argentina  can  usually  export  part 
of  hers  to  Europe,  but  her  1917  crop  was  not  so  good  as 
usual.  Moreover,  it  is  a  long  way  from  Australia  and 
India  to  Europe,  and  not  so  very  much  nearer  from 
Argentina,  and  during  the  war  the  ships  were  needed  to 
transport  soldiers.  A  ship  could  transport  a  good 
many  soldiers  from  the  United  States  across  the  At- 
lantic in  the  time  that  it  would  take  to  make  a  voyage 
from  AustraHa  to  England. 

The  Allies  in  Europe  are  lacking  meat,  for  they  have 
lost  many  of  their  cattle.  One  reason  is  that  in  the 
great  need  of  meat,  cattle  have  been  slaughtered  and 
used  as  food.  Sometimes  this  was  done  because  there 
was  no  one  to  care  for  them.  Men  who  are  fighting  in 
the  trenches  cannot  come  home  at  night  to  milk  the 
cows  and  feed  them.  Another  reason  is  because  much 
land  that  has  been  used  for  pasture  has  now  been 
ploughed  up  in  the  effort  to  raise  more  grain  for  the 
people.  Even  before  the  war  much  fodder  was  im- 
ported, and  now  many  cattle  have  had  to  be  killed  for 
the  lack  of  food.  In  Belgium  and  northern  France  the 
invading  Germans  either  killed  the  cattle  or  drove 
them  to  Germany.  Australia  and  South  America  would 
have  been  glad  to  send  more  beef  and  mutton,  if  there 
had   only   been    some   way   of  providing   ships.     The 


WHERE  IS  THE  FOOD  OF  THE  WORLD?  69 

United   States   and   Canada  have  been   sending  both 
meat  and  wheat  to  the  extent  of  their  abiHty. 

To  lose  cattle  is  of  course  a  great  misfortune  for  grown 
folk,  but  it  is  particularly  bad  for  the  children,  since 
milk  is  the  food  that  they  especially  need,  as  it  gives 
them  protein,  sugar,  fats,  Hme,  and  other  mineral 
matter,  and  both  kinds  of  vitamines  in  abundance.  A 
pint  of  milk  contains  as  much  protein  as  two  eggs,  as 
much  fat  as  an  ordinary  serving  of  butter,  and  even 
more  sugar  than  fat.  It  also  contains  Hme  enough  for 
one  day. 

If  more  fish  could  be  obtained  and  if  people  were  willing 
to  try  new  kinds,  it  would  in  some  degree  take  the  place 
of  meat.  Fish  contains  considerable  protein,  some- 
times as  much  as  22  per  cent.,  and  some  kinds,  such  as 
shad,  mackerel,  and  herring,  contain  as  much  fat  as  is 
in  some  cuts  of  meat,  such  as  lean  round  steak.  The 
waters  about  England  are  swarming  with  fish,  but  the 
country's  supply  is  less  than  half  the  usual  quantity. 
One  reason  is  that  nearly  all  of  her  steam  fishing  vessels 
have  been  taken  over  by  the  Navy,  and  the  fishermen 
of  military  age  have  been  in  service.  Another  reason 
is  that  the  North  Sea  has  been  so  full  of  mines  that  it 
was  almost  as  dangerous  as  a  battlefield;  and  still  an- 
other is  that  the  Germans  were  just  as  ready  to  sink  a 
tiny  fishing  craft — even  one  belonging  to  a  neutral 
country — as  a  large  ship.  It  is  estimated  that  during 
the  first  years  of  the  war,  about  one-tenth  of  the  food  ^ 
sent  to  the  Allies  was  destroyed  by  submarines.     If 


70  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

Kipling  should  write  another  "Captains  Courageous," 
he  might  tell  a  thrilling  story  indeed. 

Pork  is  needed  in  Europe  even  more  than  beef.  The 
humble  pig  can  no  longer  be  despised,  for  he  has  become 
a  highly  valued  member  of  society.  Pigs  are  easy  to 
raise.  They  are  not  particular  about  cHmate,  and  as 
for  food,  they  will  eat  almost  anything  they  can  get — 
indeed,  the  people  who  eat  the  pig  are  really  more 
particular  about  his  food  than  the  pig  himself  is, 
for  of  course  the  nature  of  his  diet  affects  the  quality  of 
the  pork,  and  in  this  matter  the  pig  has  no  concern. 

An  interesting  question  has  arisen  in  regard  to  keep- 
ing pigs  and  cattle,  namely,  whether  it  is  better  to  eat 
the  grain  ourselves  or  to  give  it  to  these  animals  and 
then  eat  them.  Protein  is  valuable,  and  the  pig,  for 
instance,  does  not  give  back  in  the  form  of  pork  nearly 
so  much  protein  as  was  in  the  grain  that  he  ate;  that 
is,  the  pig  is  not  an  economical  machine  for  turning 
grain  into  meat,  and  cattle  are  still  less  efficient.  On 
the  other  hand,  in  ordinary  times  more  grain  is  raised 
than  is  needed  for  human  food.  Moreover,  pigs  are 
not  fed  on  grain  alone,  but  in  large  part  on  food  that 
would  not  be  eaten  by  people. 

Another  point  in  favor  of  pork  is  that  it  contains 
much  fat,  and  all  the  world  is  in  pressing  need  of  fat. 
Here  the  question  of  shipping  comes  in.  Even  if  a 
pig  is  not  an  economical  machine  for  making  pork, 
he  is  the  only  variety  of  machine  for  that  purpose  yet 
discovered,   and  pork  is  an  economical  food  to  send 


WHERE  IS  THE  FOOD  OF  THE  WORLD?  71 

across  the  ocean.  When  economy  in  shipping  is  to 
be  considered,  we  must  remember  that  one  hundred 
pounds  of  pork  will  take  much  less  tonnage  than  would 
be  needed  to  carry  the  fodder  to  raise  the  hundred 
pounds.  After  all,  pigs  really  do  their  best  for  us. 
Fat,  as  has  been  said  before,  provides  energy;  and  fried 
food,  even  when  it  does  not  "soak  fat,"  contains  a 
great  deal.  A  doughnut  contains  from  20  per  cent, 
to  30  per  cent,  of  fat.  The  doughnuts  that  the  lassies 
of  the  Salvation  Army  fry  for  the  soldiers  rriust  be 
remembered  with  respect,  for  they  have  helped  to  fight 
our  battles. 

Sugar  is  a  good  food  to  send,  for  it  is  concentrated 
and  takes  little  space,  and  if  it  does  not  get  wet  it 
will  keep  indefinitely.  Before  the  war  there  was  a 
"middle  Europe"  of  sugar  beet  raising — Belgium,  north- 
ern France,  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  and  part  of 
Russia — which  raised  more  than  nine-tenths  of  the 
beet  sugar  of  the  world,  and  England  bought  more 
than  half  her  supply  from  this  source.  France  all 
during  the  war  h'as  continued  to  produce  some  sugar, 
but  she  has  been  able  to  raise  only  about  one-fourth  of 
what  she  generally  needs.  Java  has  been  ready  to 
furnish  sugar  and  would  gladly  furnish  it  to-day,  for 
she  has  a  large  supply  on  hand;  but,  as  in  the  case  of 
Australia,  the  lack  of  ships  has  made  it  impossible  to  get 
the  sugar  from  there.  As  soon  as  ships  are  available 
Java  will  send  it  to  these  countries.  France  and 
England  and  Italy  have  done  their  best  and  will  never 


72 


FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 


cease  to  do  their  best,  but  they  need  food  and  must 
have  it. 

A  Httle  girl  once  listened  to  her  mother  reading  a 

pitiful  story  from  a  paper.     As  the  mother  was  turning 

the  page,  the  Httle  girl  asked  earnestly,  "But  mother, 

what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  .^ ' 

It  is  worth  remembering: 

That  one  who  is  not  well  nourished  cannot  do  his 

work. 
That  there  is  less  food  than  usual  in  the  world. 
That  the  world  demands  far  greater  supplies  of 
food  from  us  than  were  needed  while  many  peo- 
ples were  cut  off  from  help  by  the  battle  lines. 


ThO^ai    rv6^a-Tt' 


CHAPTER  X 

WHAT  WE  DID  ABOUT  IT 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?''  was  the  ques- 
tion that  we  asked  ourselves  when  we  heard  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Belgians.  We  sent  ships  across  the  ocean 
loaded  with  food,  and  we  sent  strong,  wise  men  to  dis- 
tribute it  among  the  starving  people.  Hundreds  of 
Belgian  children  wrote  letters  to  us  in  the  best  English 
they  could  muster — think  of  their  courage  in  writing 
a  letter  to  105,000,000  people! — and  told  how  grateful 
they  were.     One  of  these  letters  reads  as  follows: 

Dear  America: 

I  thank  you  because  you  sent  great  big  boats  over  the  great  sea 
— eat-boats — rice,  corn,  bacon,  stockings,  clothing  and  shoes. 

I  know  that  you  like  the  little  Belgians,  and  I  like  you,  too. 

AcHiEL  Maes. 


Then  came  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  the  great 
steamship  full  of  people  who  had  never  struck  a  blow 

73 


74  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

at  Germany.  Of  the  1,154  drowned,  114  were  American 
citizens.  Germany  paid  no  attention  to  the  protests 
of  the  United  States  and  went  on  sinking  vessels  of  all 
nations,  ships  carrying  food  to  Belgium,  Red  Cross 
hospital  ships,  and  ships  of  neutral  countries,  making 
no  provision  for  the  escape  of  the  passengers,  and  some- 
times firing  at  them  if  they  succeeded  in  getting  into 
lifeboats.  This  was  rank  piracy,  and  the  United  States 
now  declared  war. 

There  was  another  reason,  and  a  strong  one,  for  our 
entering  the  war.  The  United  States  is  a  democracy — 
CJhat  is,  the  people  rule.  Germany  was  an  autocracy 
— that  is,  one  man  ruled  and  was  answerable  to  no- 
body. The  Kaiser  did  not  formally  notify  his  council 
that  he  had  declared  war  until  three  days  after  the 
declaration  was  made.  As  country  after  country 
engaged  in  the  war,  it  became  a  struggle  between 
autocracy  and  democracy.  Moreover,  Germany  meant 
to  crush  France,  then  England,  and  then  attack  the 
United  States.  For  two  years  and  a  half  England  and 
France  had  been  fighting  our  battles.  It  was  high 
time  that  we  took  a  hand. 

There  were  three  things  for  us  to  do  to  help  free  the 
world  from  the  danger  of  autocracy.  We  must  lend 
money  to  the  Allies;  we  must  furnish  an  army  to  help 
do  the  fighting;  and  we  must  send  them  food.  The 
United  States  is  a  rich  country,  and  there  was  no  trouble 
about  lending  the  money.  It  is  a  brave,  earnest 
country,  and  soon  hundreds  of  thousands  of  young  men 


76  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

were  in  the  cantonments  learning  to  be  soldiers.  To 
provide  food  was  a  more  complicated  matter. 

The  first  food  that  a  hungry  nation  thinks  of  is  bread; 
and  "bread"  means  to  each  one  the  grain  to  which 
its  people  are  most  accustomed.  We  should  think 
we  had  no  bread  if  we  had  only  rice  in  the  house;  but 
a  Chinaman  would  think  he  had  no  bread  if  he  had 
only  wheat.  Some  of  the  people  in  this  country  have 
always  been  accustomed  to  eating  more  or  less  rye, 
oatmeal,  corn  meal,  rice,  and  buckwheat;  but  our 
great  dependence  has  been  wh^at.  Other  flours  will 
make  "quick  breads,"  but  wheat  is  the  only  grain  that 
will  make  the  light  white  loaf  of  yeast  bread  that  we 
are  used  to  eating.  This  looks  well  and  keeps  well, 
and  it  has  not  so  strong  a  flavor  of  its  own  as  to  spoil 
the  flavor  of  other  food. 

This  is  the  kind  of  bread  to  which  the  Allies  are 
accustomed;  but  there  was  not  enough  wheat  to  supply 
us  and  them,  too^  with  the  usual  quantity.  The  best 
we  could  do  was  to  "go  halves,"  while  both  of  us 
made  up  what  was  lacking  by  using  the  other  grains. 
These  grains  will  not  by  themselves  make  a  loaf  of 
raised  bread  that  can  be  baked  in  a  bakery  and  kept 
on  sale,  and  it  is  bread  Hke  this  which  is  necessary  in 
France.  French  women  always  buy  their  bread. 
They  have  no  ovens,  and  if  they  had,  fuel  is  too  dear 
for  them  to  dream  of  doing  their  baking  at  home,  while 
the  baker  can  with  a  small  amount  of  coal  bake  many 
loaves  at  the  same  time. 


WHAT  WE  DID  ABOUT  IT  -^j 

It  is  not  easy  to  change  one's  habits  of  eating.  Every 
one  has  whims  about  his  food.  For  instance,  Italians 
fry  in  oil,  but  many  Americans  still  feel  that  the  frying 
material  must  be  soUd  like  lard  when  it  is  put  into 
the  kettle,  even  though  they  know  that  in  three  or 
four  minutes  it  will  become  liquid.  If  potatoes  should 
suddenly  turn  blue  and  bread  scarlet,  it  would  be  a 
long  time  before  we  should  relish  them.  Those  among 
us  who  found  it  difficult  to  use  less  wheat  and  more  of 
the  other  cereals  are  the  ones  who  ought  to  understand 
best  how  hard  it  was  for  the  Allies  to  become  accus- 
tomed to  putting  other  grains  into  their  bread.  They 
made  no  complaint,  however,  but  were  grateful  that 
the  American  supply  did  not  fail  them.  There  was 
wheat  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand  and  in  Argentina, 
but  ships  could  not  be  spared  to  carry  it  to  Europe. 
From  the  United  States  to  England  is  not  only  the 
shortest  route,  but  it  was  also  the  best  protected  from 
submarines.  In  the  time  that  it  would  take  a  ship  to 
go  from  Argentina  to  England,  it  could  carry  two  loads 
of  soldiers  from  the  United  States  to  France.  It  was 
just  plain  arithmetic.  The  shorter  the  voyage,  the  more 
free  ships;  the  more  free  ships,  the  more  food  and 
soldiers  carried  to  Europe;  the  more  food  and  soldiers 
carried  to  Europe,  the  sooner  we  could  win  the  war; 
the  sooner  we  could  win  the  war,  the  fewer  of  our  own 
boys  and  of  the  Allies  would  be  wounded  or  killed. 
It  was  worth  our  while  to  send  food. 

As  in  the  case  of  wheat,  meat  could  not  be  carried 


78  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

to  Europe  from  distant  countries  for  lack  of  ships. 
Meat  is  the  best  protein  for  transportation.  Beef 
contains  much  protein,  keeps  well,  and  is  condensed 
food.  Pork  is  particularly  valuable  because  it  provides 
both  protein  and  fat.  In  Ireland  people  used  to 
call  the  pig  "the  gentleman  that  pays  the  rent." 
"The  gentleman'*  does  more  than  that  in  these 
days,  for  he  has  been  trying  his  best  to  support  the 
country. 

In  i9i7.not  nearly  so  many  pigs  were  kept  as  usual. 
This  was  alarming,  because  pork  can  be  raised  more 
quickly  and  easily  than  other  meats.  Hogs  multiply 
rapidly,  and  have  sometimes  ten  or  twelve  little  pigs  at 
a  litter.  The  "keep-a-pig"  movement  had  been  started 
some  years  before,  and  now  it  took  a  new  life.  An 
effort  was  made  to  make  people  understand  that  a 
pig-pen  need  not  be  a  bad-smelling  place,  that  a  pig 
likes  to  wallow  in  mud  on  a  hot  day,  not  because  he  is 
naturally  dirty,  but  because  the  mud  is  as  great  a  com- 
fort to  him  as  a  cool  bath  is  to  people.  The  pig  is  by 
nature  a  cleanly  animal,  and  he  appreciates  fresh  water 
and  good  food. 

Boys  on  farms  became  interested.  "Have  you 
bought  a  pig?"  became  almost  as  common  a  salutation 
as,  "How  do  you  do.?"  Before  long  the  magazines 
began  to  print  pictures  of  remarkably  small  boys 
grouped  with  remarkably  large  pigs.  The  problem 
was  solved;  and  in  March,  191 8,  we  sent  across  the  water 
six  times  as  much  pork  as  our  ordinary  export. 


WHAT  WE  DID  ABOUT  IT  79 

The  men  going  "over  the  top"  needed  fat  not  only 
for  energy,  but  because  it  would  keep  them  from  feeling 
hungry  so  soon,  and  that  was  an  important  matter 
when  the  time  of  their  next  meal  was  a  question  that 
no  one  could  answer.  In  this  country  we  use  a  great 
deal  of  fat,  and  if  you  should  make  a  list  of  all  the  food 
that  you  eat  during  the  day,  and  then  cross  oflF  every 
article  that  contained  fat  or  was  cooked  or  eaten  with 
fat,  very  few  would  be  left.  Before  the  war,  England 
used,  according  to  her  population,  nearly  as  much  fat 
as  the  United  States.  Quantities  of  butter  were  sold 
to  her  by  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Russia. 
The  Russian  supply  soon  failed.  Holland,  Denmark,  and 
Sweden  were  neutral  countries,  but  they  needed  Ger- 
many's coal,  and  Germany  would  not  send  it  to  them 
unless  she  could  receive  butter  in  return.  England 
made  much  oleomargarine,  but  even  with  this  her 
ration  of  fat  was  only  one-fourth  of  a  pound  per 
week;  and  often  this  small  amount  could  not  be 
bought. 

As  to  sugar,  this  is  to  us  an  agreeable  luxury  in  a 
convenient  form.  A  bright  man  once  said,  "Give  me 
the  luxuries  and  I  will  dispense  with  the  necessities:'* 
and  when  we  were  asked  to  use  less  sugar  than  was  our 
custom,  it  really  seemed  to  trouble  us  more  than  saving 
fats  or  wheat.  Sugar  has  been  very  cheap,  and  we  had 
fallen  into  the  habit  of  using  much  more  than  we  need 
and  more  than  is  good  for  us.  Even  in  1917,  when  we 
all  thought  ourselves  so  economical,  we  used  an  amount 


8o  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

that  the  AlHes  would  have  looked  upon  as  luxury. 
What  was  used  in  preserving,  however,  was  "good 
business,"  for  much  fruit  was  saved  that  would  other- 
wise have  gone  to  waste.  There  was  no  danger  of  our 
suffering  for  sweets,  since  we  had  honey,  molasses, 
corn  sirup,  and  maple  sugar,  to  say  nothing  of  our 
sweet  fruits,  like  plums,  peaches,  apples,  and  berries. 
We  had  dried  fruits,  like  raisins,  dates,  and  prunes, 
that  are  even  sweeter.  When  you  feel  hungry  for 
candy,  eat  some  one  of  these,  and  candy  will  not  seem 
half  so  attractive.  On  an  average  every  person  in  this 
country  spends  about  four  cents  a  week  for  candy. 
In  six  months  enough  money  goes  into  it  to  feed  the 
hungry  people  of  Belgium  for  a  whole  year.  That 
looks  as  if  we  could  get  on  very  comfortably  with  less 
than  our  usual  amount. 

One  year  before  the  close  of  the  war,  our  Food 
Administration  was  formed.  It  is  not  easy  to  realize 
the  full  meaning  of  a  statement  whose  numbers  go  up 
into  the  milHons,  but  sometimes  it  is  worth  while  to 
try.  Here  is  what  the  Food  Administration  has  led 
us  to  accomplish  in  that  one  year. 

It  was  at  first  calculated  that  we  must  export  to 
Europe  100,000,000  bushels  of  wheat.  Then  the  wheat 
failed  which  we  had  expected  could  be  carried  to  the 
AUies  from  other  countries.  The  Food  Administration 
explained  the  difficulty  and  asked  us  to  use  only  two- 
thirds  of  our  usual  amount.  By  doing  so  we  were  able 
to  send  to  Europe  141,000,000  bushels  of  the  year's 


WHAT  WE  DID  ABOUT  IT  8i 

crop.  Of  beef  we  had  been  accustomed  to  export 
one  or  two  million  pounds  a  month;  but  during  this  year 
our  largest  export  in  any  one  month  was  more  than 
96,cxx),ooo  pounds.  Our  export  of  pork  increased  from 
50,cxxD,ooo  pounds  a  month  to  308,000,000  pounds  in 
the  month  during  which  we  sent  most.  Before  the  war, 
the  United  States  and  Canada  together  were  accus- 
tomed to  send  to  the  countries  of  the  Allies  5  per  cent, 
of  their  food.  During  the  closing  year  of  the  war  we 
sent  across  the  Atlantic  eleven  and  three-fourths 
miUion  tons  of  food,  that  is,  50  per  cent.,  or  one-half 
of  their  food  deficit.  This  was  done  "by  the  willing 
service  of  a  free  people,"  but  some  one  had  to  tell  us 
how.  Some  one  had  to  learn  what  were  the  best  foods 
to  send,  to  ascertain  how  much  food  was  in  this  country, 
how  much  could  probably  be  raised  within  the  year, 
how  much  we  needed  to  keep  us  and  the  Allies  well  and 
strong,  how  much  we  wasted,  and  how  much  we  could 
save  if  we  tried.  We  could  not  wait  quietly  till  a 
starving  country  should  say,  "I  need  wheat,  or  meat, 
or  fats;'*  we  must  learn  the  needs  of  the  hungry  lands 
and,  just  as  far  as  possible,  keep  a  steady  stream  of 
supplies  flowing  to  them. 

This  was  not  easy.  It  is  true  that  any  one  who  goes 
through  our  markets  or  sees  our  wide-spreading  fields 
of  grain  might  fancy  that  we  had  food  enough  for  at 
ieast  one  world;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  not, 
even  in  ordinary  times,  so  very  much  more  than  we 
ourselves  use.     Yet  the  Allies  must  have  their  grain. 


82  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

their  meat  and  other  protein  foods,  their  fats  and  their 
sugar.  We  must  have  ours,  too.  There  would  be  no 
fairness  in  sending  our  troops  "over  there''  only  half 
fed;  and  it  would  take  the  courage  out  of  the  bravest 
of  our  soldier  boys  to  know  that  their  families  at  home 
were  needing  food.  Here  was  a  puzzle  that  demanded 
brains  and  wisdom,  a  wide  view  of  every  question  that 
might  arise,  and  a  big  supply  of  good  practical  common 
sense.  That  is  why  our  Food  Administration  was  or- 
ganized. Its  prime  object  was  to  make  sure  that  more 
food  was  produced,  that  it  was  fairly  distributed,  and 
that  our  soldiers,  the  AlHes,  and  we  ourselves,  would  have 
enough  to  eat.  Its  aim  was  not  to  make  food  cheap, 
for  if  food  is  too  cheap,  less  will  be  produced.  No  one 
would  buy  cows,  for  instance,  have  all  the  trouble  of 
feeding  and  caring  for  them  and  disposing  of  the  milk, 
unless  he  could  count  upon  a  fair  profit  for  his  labor. 
No  farmer  would  plough  and  plant  and  cultivate 
and  gather  in  crops,  unless  he  was  reasonably  certain 
that  he  would  receive  a  fair  price  for  what  he  had 
done. 

Our  wheat  crop  of  1917  was  one-third  below  the  nor- 
mal quantity,  and  the  Food  Administration  set  to 
work  energetically  to  see  what  could  be  done.  In  the 
first  place,  the  Food  Administration  and  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  worked  together — and  worked 
hard — to  induce  the  farmers  to  plant  much  wheat. 
They  sent  agents  through  the  wheat  country  to  make 
addresses  at  granges;  they  helped  the  farmers  select 


WHAT  WE  DID  ABOUT  IT  83 

the  best  seed  and  fight  the  insects  and  diseases  that 
might  lessen  their  crop.  The  newspapers  worked 
loyally  and  gave  up  column  after  column  of  their 
valuable  space. 

But  the  farmers  had  a  good  reason  for  hesitating. 
It  was  possible  that  the  war  might  come  to  an  end 
somewhat  suddenly,  leaving  more  wheat  on  hand  than 
would  be  needed;  prices  would  go  down  and  they  would 
lose.  To  prevent  this,  the  Government  promised 
them  a  minimum  price  of  $2.00  a  bushel  for  the  crop. 
The  President,  however,  increased  this  price  to  $2.26 
a  bushel  at  the  Chicago  market,  whether  the  war  ended 
in  1918  or  not.  For  this  purpose  the  Food  Administra- 
tion Grain  Corporation  was  formed  which  became  a 
buyer  and  seller  of  grain.  It  either  bought  wheat  or 
arranged  for  its  purchase  for  the  Army  and  Navy,  the 
AUies,  and  some  of  the  neutral  countries  that  depended 
upon  us  for  food. 

The  Food  Administration  also  organized  a  plan  by 
which  the  buying  for  all  the  AlUes  was  done  through 
one  source.  To  buy  a  few  pounds  of  meat,  for  instance, 
is  not  difficult,  but  to  buy  millions  of  pounds  is  a  differ- 
ent matter.  At  first  each  country  bought  for  itself. 
Each  of  the  buyers  was  afraid  his  own  country  would  go 
hungry,  and  they  sometimes  bid  against  one  another. 
A  better  arrangement  was  now  made.  Never  was  so 
much  attention  paid  to  beeves  and  hogs.  Men  who 
knew  the  meat  business  through  and  through  decided 
how  much  the  man  or  boy  who  raised  the  hog  ought 


84  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

to  have,  how  much  the  packer,  how  much  the  storage 
warehouse,  and  finally  how  much  the  Allies  should  pay. 
This  plan  made  sure  that  every  man  who  had  anything 
to  do  with  the  meat  should  have  good  pay,  but  that 
no  one  should  make  exorbitant  profits  out  of  the 
needs  of  his  countrymen  or  the  AlHes. 

Of  course  much  more  food  had  to  be  exported  from 
the  United  States  than  ever  before,  nearly  twice  as 
much.  Could  this  be  done?  In  an  autocracy  the  ruler 
could  say  to  his  subjects,  "Raise  more  food  and  eat 
less,"  and  they  would  have  to  obey.  All  the  Allies 
were  rationed;  but  in  a  democracy,  and  especially  in  a 
land  as  large  as  ours,  to  enforce  such  a  law  would  need  a 
whole  army  of  officials  and  would  be  exceedingly  ex- 
pensive. Moreover,  although  it  might  be  done  in  the 
cities,  it  would  be  almost  impossible  in  the  country, 
where  people  raise  so  much  of  their  own  food.  The 
Food  Administration  beHeved  that  just  as  soon  as 
Americans  understood  the  situation,  they  would  **play 
fair,"  and  would  use  in  their  households  only  a  fixed 
amount  of  the  foods  of  which  we  had  not  a  large  supply. 
It  explained  the  situation  and  asked  every  American 
to  help. 

"Don't  waste,"  it  said,  "and  don't  hoard.  Even 
if  there  is  plenty  of  some  one  kind  of  food  and  you  in- 
tend to  use  it  very  economically,  don't  store  up  more 
than  you  need  at  the  time.  If  you  do,  more  will  have 
to  be  brought  for  other  people,  and  our  railroads  have 
all  they  can  do  to  bring  what  is  absolutely  necessary. 


WHAT  WE  DID  ABOUT  IT  85 

Use  food  that  is  nearest  and  save  transportation.  Plant 
a  garden  and  raise  your  own  food." 

The  people  of  the  United  States  responded  most 
willingly  to  these  requests.  Clubs  of  all  sorts  were 
formed  whose  object  was  either  to  increase  the  produc- 
tion of  food  or  to  save  food.  There  were  pig  clubs,  corn 
clubs,  and  canning  clubs;  there  were  war  gardens  and 
school  gardens.  Everybody  who  had  a  bit  of  land  did 
his  best  to  raise  vegetables  to  supply  his  own  table  and 
to  sell.  Long  before  the  war,  the  Garden  City  move- 
ment began,  and  now  the  boys  and  girls  set  to  work 
with  double  energy.  Many  of  them  canned  their 
spare  produce.  In  some  places  these  "young  citizens'' 
gave  a  Thanksgiving  dinner  of  their  own  raising  to  a 
group  of  children  who  had  had  no  opportunity  to  make 
gardens  of  their  own.  "And  I  tell  you  it  was  some 
dinner,"  said  one  of  the  boys  enthusiastically. 

An  even  wider  movement  than  the  Garden  City  is 
the  School  Garden  Army.  The  name  tells  in  part 
what  it  is;  but  it  does  not  tell  that  it  is  recognized  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States  as  a  real  army, 
which  has  already  more  than  1,500,000  enlisted  soldiers. 
"They  really  will  be  soldiers,  although  not  old  enough 
to  fight,"  says  Secretary  Lane.  Every  "garden  sol- 
dier," boy  or  girl,  is  entitled  to  wear  a  little  bronze 
bar  with  the  letters  "U.  S.  S.  G.  A."  on  it;  and  any  one 
can  guess  what  that  means.  The  Army  was  organized 
early  in  the  spring  of  191 8,  and  in  its  first  season  it  has 
produced   millions   of  dollars'   worth   of  food    stuffs. 


86  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

One  of  the  slogans,  or  rather,  the  war  cries,  of  this 
Arniy  is. 

Uncle  Sam's  in  need, 

Pull  the  weed,  ^ 

Plant  the  seed. 

So  it  was  that  Americans  justified  the  confidence  of 
the  Food  Administration  and,  what  is  more,  they  did  it 
good-naturedly.  Everybody  knows  the  merry  little 
rhyme  beginning: 

My  Tuesdays  are  wheatless, 
My  Wednesdays  are  meatless, 
I'm  getting  more  eatless  each  day. 

The  Germans  got  hold  of  it  and  translated  it,  leaving 
out  the  fun,  and  pubhshed  it  as  a  bitter  complaint  of 
the  Americans  because  of  the  rapidly  increasing  short- 
age of  food ! 

In  war  time  prices  always  rise,  sometimes  because 
for  one  reason  or  another  there  is  a  smaller  supply;  but 
sometimes  because  the  fact  that  one  thing  rises  is 
made  an  excuse  for  increasing  the  price  of  others. 
Suppose  there  was  only  one  bicycle  in  a  place  and 
ten  boys  wanted  to  buy  it.  The  one  who  could  pay 
most  would  be  likely  to  get  it.  The  price  of  wheat' 
was  fixed  by  Congress.  The  result  was  that,  while 
in  the  Spring  of  1917  flour  cost  ^16.75  a  barrel  whole- 
sale, flour  from  the  1917  wheat  crop  was  sold  at  ^9.80; 
and  the  farmer  received  a  much  larger  share  of  the 
price  than  the  previous  year.     The  Government  has  re- 


WHAT  WE  DID  ABOUT  IT  ^7 

quired  men  who  dealt  in  food  for  people  or  animals  to 
any  extent  to  take  out  a  license.  If  they  did  not  do 
this,  they  had  to  pay  a  penalty.  Dealers  who  charged 
more  than  the  lawful  price  were  severely  punished  by 
fines  or  by  having  their  stores  closed  for  a  certain 
number  of  days  or  weeks.  People  who  buy  in  large 
quantities  know  what  they  are  paying;  but  people 
who  buy  in  small  quantities  do  not  always  stop  to 
reckon  what  a  barrel  of  flour  would  come  to  if  paid  for 
at  the  rate  that  they  pay  for  a  few  pounds.  For  in- 
stance, it  was  found  that  a  dealer  who  had  been  selling 
flour  a  few  pounds  at  a  time  was  charging  at  the  rate  of 
$20.00  a  barrel.  He  was  punished  by  being  forbidden 
to  open  his  store  till  the  end  of  the  war.  The  Govern- 
ment issued  licenses  to  dealers  in  certain  foods,  and 
the  Food  Administration  was  sometimes  able  to  control 
prices  by  making  agreements  with  those  who  sold  them. 
During  our  Civil  War,  sugar  cost  at  one  time  thirty 
and  one-half  cents  a  pound  wholesale;  and  it  would  have 
surely  gone  as  high  as  that  during  this  war  if  the  price 
had  not  been  fixed  and  dealers  forbidden  to  go  beyond  it. 
The  Food  Administration  kept  in  touch  with  all 
changes  of  situation  and  told  us  what  was  necessary 
to  be  done  to  meet  every  emergency.  Supposing,  for 
instance,  that  100,000  hogs  were  ready  for  market  and  a 
heavy  storm  put  the  railroads  in  difficulties  for  a  number 
of  days,  telegrams  flashed  over  the  country  would  ask 
people  to  use  less  pork.  When  the  railroads  were 
again  in  running  order,  there  might  be  for  a  httle  time 


88  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

too  much  pork  for  the  storehouses  and  ships;  so  people 
were  then  told  that  they  did  not  need  to  do  without 
pork.  There  were  constant  changes  in  the  requests  of 
the  Food  Administration;  but  this  was  not  because  its 
"forethought  came  afterward,"  but  because  it  watched 
the  changing  conditions  of  the  country  so  closely  and 
advised  so  wisely. 

The  Food  Administration  was  of  course  looking  out 
as  carefully  for  us  as  for  the  Allies.  Our  railroads  were 
overwhelmed  with  war  work.  They  had  enough  to  do 
in  time  of  peace,  but  during  the  war  they  were  called 
upon  to  transport  ammunition,  guns,  machinery,  food 
for  "over  there,"  all  sorts  of  suppHes,  and  the  troops 
themselves.  Each  of  the  countries  had  to  receive,  as  far 
as  possible,  its  proper  share  of  the  various  kinds  of 
food.  Even  if  this  food  had  been  safely  put  up  in  store- 
houses, the  question  would  still  have  been  a  large  one; 
but  when  plans  had  to  be  made,  much  of  it  was  still 
growing  in  the  fields  or  running  about  on  four  legs. 
The  probable  amount  of  it  had  to  be  estimated,  and 
crops  are  rather  uncertain  things  to  deal  with.  Too 
much  rain,  too  little  rain,  or  some  new  species  of  insect 
may  easily  make  a  difference  of  millions  of  bushels  in 
the  harvest. 

Not  guns  only,  but  guns  and  work  and  food  were 
what  won  the  war.  "Fm  tired  of  using  substitutes 
and  hearing  so  much  about  saving  food,"  said  a  thought- 
less woman;  but  did  it  tire  her  to  hear  that  we  were  vic- 
torious.^    The  Germans  hoped  that  we  should  all  get 


WHAT  WE  DID  ABOUT  IT 


89 


"tired  of  using  substitutes"  and  so  help  them  to  win; 
but  that  is  not  the  American  way. 
It  is  worth  remembering: 
That  in  an  autocracy  one  man  rules;  in  a  democ- 
racy the  people  rule. 
That  the  work  of  feeding  the  Allies  fell  largely 

upon  North  America  as  the  nearest  country. 
That  the  Food  Administration  was  formed  to 
make  sure  of  greater  production  of  food  and  a 
fair  distribution  of  it. 
That  under  the  guidance  of  the  Food  Adminis- 
tration our  exports  of  food  to  Europe  were  al- 
most doubled;  and  that  this  was  done  ''by  the 
willing  service  of  a  free  people." 


With  All  Able-bodied  Men  at  the  Front  French  Women  Have  Had 
to  Raise  the  Crops  for  Their  Homes  and  Their  Armies  as  Well 


CHAPTER  XI 
WHAT  WE  HAVE  YET  TO  DO 

When  the  armistice  was  signed,  we  promptly  cele- 
brated in  all  sorts  of  ways.  These  ranged  from  long 
processions  and  the  firing  of  great  cannon  to  the  method 
of  one  man  who,  as  a  sign  of  the  return  of  peace  and 
plenty,  joyfully  dropped  into  his  coffee  two  lumps  of 
sugar  instead  of  one. 

At  the  very  first,  most  of  us  thought  of  nothing  except 
that  the  war  was  over  and  the  boys  would  come  home. 
There  would  be  no  more  "substitutes,"  and  the  sugar 
bowl  would  again  hold  the  place  of  honor  on  our  table. 
But  the  more  thoughtful  among  us  realized  that,  al- 
though we  need  no  longer  fight  to  free  the  nations 
crushed  by  Germany,  we  had  still  to  wage  a  battle 
with  hunger.  If  you  should  learn  that  one  person  in  the 
house  next  to  your  own  had  died  of  hunger,  it  would 
seem  to  you  a  terrible  thing.  You  can  hardly  imagine 
the  horror  of  learning  that  one  out  of  every  four  among 

91 


92  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

your  neighbors  had  been  starved;  but  in  Poland  one 
person  out  of  every  four  has  died  for  lack  of  food;  in 
Serbia  one  out  of  every  two;  and  in  Armenia  more  than 
half  of  the  people  have  perished  of  hunger. 

Peace  has  come,  but  it  has  not  brought  food  to  the 
hungry.  Look  at  the  Hunger  Map  (see  Frontispiece)  and 
remember  that  every  little  country  on  the  page  is  not 
merely  an  outline,  but  represents  millions  of  people 
who  are  suffering  from  hunger.  Those  still  alive  in 
Poland,  Roumania,  and  Serbia,  in  Armenia  and  Finland, 
are  starving.  So  they  are  in  large  parts  of  Russia  which 
were  shut  off  from  our  help  before  the  Germans  were 
forced  to  depart  from  them.  Not  one  country  in 
Europe  has  food  enough  to  keep  its  people  from  going 
hungry.  France,  Italy,  and  the  British  Isles  have  not 
as  much  as  they  actually  need.  Norway,  Sweden, 
Denmark,  Holland,  Spain,  and  Portugal  have  to  get 
on  with  much  less  than  their  usual  supply.  We  have 
helped  to  rescue  the  people  of  Belgium  from  starvation, 
but  even  the  Belgians  have  had  only  just  enough  to 
save  their  lives.  Surely,  the  coming  of  victory  ought 
at  least  to  bring  them  food  enough  to  make  their  lives 
endurable.  Then,  too,  there  are  the  people  of  Bul- 
garia, Turkey,  and  other  conquered  nations.  Many  of 
these  will  starve  unless  given  help.  They  have  had  to 
make  an  unconditional  surrender,  and  we  are  in  honor 
bound  to  make  it  possible  for  them  to  buy  food. 

There  is  another  reason  why  we  must  send  food  to 
Europe.    We  Jiave  sacrificed  the  lives  of  thousands  of  our 


WHAT  WE  HAVE  YET  TO  DO  93 

men,  and  we  have  spent  many  billions  of  dollars  that 
the  world  might  be  made  safe.  We  are  longing  for  a 
world  of  peace  and  ordei,  a  world  in  which  a  man  shall 
be  free  to  do  his  best  work  under  the  best  conditions. 
Starving  people  have  Httle  regard  for  law  or  the  rights 
of  others.  Lawlessness  spreads  rapidly.  Two  or  three 
selfish,  disagreeable  boys  will  spoil  a  whole  playground; 
and  in  the  same  way  a  few  millions  of  hungry,  unhappy, 
discontented  people  will  spoil  a  world.  To  protect 
ourselves,  we  must  do  our  best  to  protect  those  who  are 
in  need  of  our  help.  To  refuse  would  be  to  undo  the 
good  work  already  done. 

The  people  of  the  hungry  countries  will  do  for  them- 
selves all  that  any  one  could  do.  They  will  be  saving 
of  food  of  course;  but  they  must  have  food  to  save. 
They  will  cultivate  the  ground,  but  they  must  get  their 
ground  into  proper  condition  to  cultivate.  Just  im- 
agine trying  to  make  a  war  garden  in  a  field  that  had 
been  torn  up  by  shells  and  shrapnel,  a  field  that  was 
"nothing  but  a  network  of  holes,"  as  one  of  the  soldiers 
said.  And  it  is  in  such  fields  that  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  people  will  toil  to  produce  their  bread.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  they  need  help. 

There  is  still  another  difficulty.  Many  of  the  men 
who  would  have  done  their  best  to  cultivate  these  shell- 
torn  fields  have  been  killed  or  wounded.  All  who  re- 
turn will  be  more  or  less  weakened  by  the  long  struggle. 
There  will  be  a  shortage  of  workers,  and  there  will  be 
a  vast  amount  of  work  to  be  done.     Think  what  you 


94  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

would  have  to  do  if  you  had  come  back  to  your  home 
after  four  years  of  war  and  had  found  the  house,  and 
perhaps  the  whole  village  or  city,  nothing  but  a  mass 
of  stones  and  ashes  and  cinders.  Think  of  coming 
back  to  a  farm  and  finding  the  fields  torn  up,  the  build- 
ings burned  and  the  cattle  gone.  Then  you  will  realize 
what  so  many  people  in  Europe  have  to  meet,  and  you 
will  see  why  they  must  have  good  nourishing  food  and 
plenty  of  it  in  order  to  reconstruct — to  build  again — 
their  homes  and  their  lives. 

In  this  splendid  work  the  United  States  must  have  a 
generous  part.  Now  is  our  opportunity  to  prove  that 
we  are  more  eager  to  give  than  to  gain.  The  people  of 
Europe  will  do  their  best,  and  next  autumn  they  will 
perhaps  be  able  to  provide  the  greater  part  of  their 
own  food.  Meanwhile  we  must  help  them  as  we  should 
wish  to  be  helped  if  we  were  in  want  and  there  were  a 
great  land  of  plenty  just  across  the  ocean. 

What  we  shall  need  to  send  will  vary  from  time  to 
time.  Wheat  will  soon  be  brought  to  Europe  from  In- 
dia and  AustraHa.  In  less  than  a  week  after  the  signing 
of  the  armistice  Australian  ships  were  already  on  the 
way.  Both  wheat  and  meat  will  come  from  Argentina. 
Sugar  will  come  from  Java.  When  there  are  more 
refrigerator  ships,  we  can  send  more  meat.  Some 
countries  will  need  more  wheat,  some  more  fat,  and 
some  more  sugar  than  others.  To  learn  beforehand 
what  kinds  of  food  each  will  require  will  be  in  the  hands 
of  the  Food  Administration;  and  we  shall  look  to  it 


WHAT  WE  HAVE  YET  TO  DO  95 

for  guidance,  as  we  have  done  ever  since  it  was  estab- 
lished. 

Many  people  have  questioned,  "After  the  war  is 
over,  shall  we  go  back  to  our  old  careless,  extravagant 
ways  of  living?  Shall  we  begin  again  to  leave  sugar 
in  the  bottom  of  the  cup  and  fill  the  garbage  can  to  over- 
flowing? No.  Surely,  after  having  once  learned  a 
better  way,  we  cannot  go  back  to  the  old  fashion.  While 
we  may  not  need  to  put  substitutes  into  our  bread  or 
to  go  without  meat  or  to  divide  our  teaspoonfuls  into 
halves  and  quarters,  we  shall  need  to  live  simply.  We 
shall  have  plenty  of  food  to  keep  us  well  and  strong, 
but  we  shall  not  have  any  to  waste — if  any  of  us  are  so 
fooHsh  as  to  desire  to  waste. 

Another  part  of  the  work  of  the  Food  Administration 
will  be  to  see  that  food  is  properly  distributed  both 
here  and  abroad.  The  old  way  of  distributing  food  was 
to  send  it  wherever  the  highest  price  would  be  paid,  and 
sometimes  to  destroy  it  rather  than  sell  it  for  a  more 
reasonable  price.  The  new  way,  the  way  of  kindness 
— and  of  good  sense,  too,  for  that  matter — is  to  send 
it  where  it  is  needed  to  enable  people  to  do  their  share 
of  the  world's  work. 

So  it  is  that  we  willingly  bear  the  burden  of  aiding  our 
brothers  across  the  sea.  Long  ago  it  was  said  that  the 
United  States  is 

The  hope  of  all  who  suffer. 
The  dread  of  all  wrong. 


96 


FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 


We  may  well  be  proud  of  our  country  because  she  is 
powerful;  but  we  love  her  because  she  is  kind  and  gener- 
ous and  thoughtful  of  those  who  without  her  help  would 
surely  perish. 
It  is  worth  remembering: 

That  even  the  coming  of  peace  has  not  brought 

food  to  the  hungry. 
That  no  country  in  Europe  has  enough  food. 
That  for  the  hard  work  of  reconstruction  nourish- 
ing food  will  be  especially  necessary. 
That  the  United  States  will  share  generously  in. 
providing  food  for  those  who  are  in  need. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  LITTLE  GROUP  OF  ONE 

Did  you  ever  notice  that  when  anything  is  given  to 
a  little  child,  his  first  thought  is  to  put  it  into  his 
mouth  as  fast  as  he  can  ?  When  he  is  a  few  years  older, 
he  is  ready  to  share  his  good  things  with  his  family, 
and  after  a  while  he  likes  to  think  that  his  city  or  state 
or  his  whole  country  is  faring  well.  Some  day  perhaps, 
we  shall  learn  to  think  of  the  whole  world  as  one  great 
family,  and  we  shall  be  glad  if  we  can  help  even  a  little 
in  bringing  it  about  that  every  one  has  his  fair  share 
of  the  good  things  of  life.  That  is  the  deeper  meaning 
of  the  Food  Administration.  Its  present  work  is  to 
feed  hungry  nations,  but  the  meaning  of  the  work  is 
the  "brotherhood  of  man." 

The  Food  Administration  can  only  ** press  the 
button;"  we,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  must 
**do  the  rest."  Germany  marched  forward  with  a 
chip  on  her  shoulder  and  a  challenge  to  knock  it  off 

97 


98  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

if  we  could.  The  "chip"  was  a  "dare"  to  keep  the 
Allies  from  starving,  and  we  helped  to  do  it.  Wars 
used  to  be  won  chiefly  by  bullets,  but  this  war  was  won 
by  bullets  and  work  and  bread.  We  were  obliged  to 
have  enormous  armies  and  great  factories  and  food  for 
millions;  but  after  all,  it  was  the  Httle  group  of  one 
that  brought  success.  One  man  fired  one  gun,  one 
man  helped  make  munitions,  one  man  cultivated  the 
ground;  that  is  the  way  the  mighty  armies,  the  great 
throngs  of  factory  workers,  and  the  countless  bands  of 
farmers  were  formed.  We  shall  never  get  far  beyond 
the  verse  that  little  children  sing: 

Little  drops  of  water, 

Little  grains  of  sand, 
Make  the  mighty  ocean 

And  the  pleasant  land. 

We  could  not  make  a  "mighty  ocean,"  but  we  did  help 
to  make  the  ocean  mighty  in  its  freedom  for  all  man- 
kind. We  could  not  make  a  "pleasant  land,"  but  we 
helped  to  make  all  lands  pleasant  by  driving  away  the 
robber  hordes  that  sought  destruction  and  ruin. 

With  the  conquered  nations  we  must  deal  wisely  and 
justly,  aiming  at  what  will  be  for  the  highest  good  of  the 
world.  We  must  do  our  best  to  help  feed  and  reconstruct 
the  countries  that  have  suffered  because  of  the  war. 

It  is  only  by  "a  long  pull  and  a  strong  pull  and  a  pull 
all  together"  that  we  can  do  these  things.  You  know 
the  game  called  the  "tug  of  war,"  in  which  half  the 


THE  LITTLE  GROUP  OF  ONE  99 

boys  pull  at  one  end  of  a  rope  and  half  at  the  other. 
There  is  no  chance  for  any  one  in  the  middle;  every- 
body must  pull  one  way  or  the  other.  That  is  the  way 
it  is  now;  everybody  in  America  is  pulHng  in  one  way 
or  the  other,  either  to  help  the  country  or  to  hinder  her. 
Not  every  one  can  buy  Government  bonds  or  many 
thrift  stamps,  but  faithful  work  is  just  as  helpful  as 
money.  Not  long  ago  a  newsboy  carelessly  neglected 
to  deliver  a  paper.  The  subscriber  telephoned  to 
the  office;  the  clerk  reported  the  matter  to  the  head  of 
the  delivery  department;  the  head  of  the  delivery  de- 
partment sent  another  boy  by  the  electric  car  to  deliver 
the  paper.  It  was  quite  Hke  "the  house  that  Jack 
built,"  and  it  took  the  time  of  the  subscriber,  the  tele- 
phone operator,  the  clerk,  the  head  of  the  delivery 
department,  and  the  second  boy,  and  cost  two  carfares 
— ^just  because  one  boy  was  not  faithful.  Time  and 
faithfulness  are  all  fully  as  valuable  in  this  period 
of  constructing  the  world  anew  as  they  were  in  the  days 
of  barrage  fire  and  machine  guns. 

Did  you  ever  realize  what  an  honor  it  is  to  be  asked 
to  work  for  our  country .?  A  little  child  is  always  pleased 
if  he  can  feel  that  he  is  doing  something  to  help  his 
father  or  mother.  Even  a  little  dog  will  try  his  best 
to  understand  what  his  master  wants  and  is  delighted 
if  he  can  do  it.  Here  is  a  mighty  country — wide- 
spreading,  prosperous,  and  powerful — and  she  says  to 
every  man  and  woman  and  to.  every  child,  "Will  you  do 
something  for  me .? " 


loo  FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 

Now  what  can  every  little  group  of  one  do  for  the 
country?  The  Food  Administration  has  shown  us 
some  ways  in  which  we  can  help.  We  know  that  every 
garden  helps  to  produce  food  to  make  up  for  that 
which  has  been  destroyed  or  prevented  from  growing. 
We  know  that  we  ought  not  to  waste  even  a  mouthful 
of  food.  On  the  wartime  bill  of  fare  of  a  luxurious 
hotel  there  was  printed,  "Help  us  to  observe  the  Gospel 
of  the  Clean  Plate;  please  order  only  what  you  will 
eat." 

We  need  this  motto  just  as  much  now.  We  must 
content  ourselves  with  simpler  ways  of  living,  and  so 
save  not  only  food,  but  also  gas  and  coal  and  time  and 
labor. 

Transportation  can  be  saved.  If  every  family  could 
raise  all  that  it  eats,  the  railroads  would  be  immensely 
relieved.  A  garden  saves  transportation,  so  does  buy- 
ing food  from  the  nearest  farmer.  So  does  shopping 
in  your  own  town  or  even  village  instead  of  going  to 
the  nearest  large  city.  Save  express  and  mail.  Save 
man  power  and  the  expense  of  carrying  goods  from  the 
grocery  or  market  to  the  house.  Our  grandmothers, 
if  they  happened  to  live  in  the  country,  would  have 
thought  it  wonderfully  convenient  if  a  delivery  wagon 
had  called  at  their  doors  once  a  week.  But  now! 
**Some  people  order  one-fourth  of  a  dozen  cookies  in 
the  morning  and  a  yeast  cake  in  the  afternoon,"  said 
a  grocer.  To  have  no  deliveries  would  be  exceedingly 
wasteful,  because  it  would  take  the  time  of  hundreds 


THE  LITTLE  GROUP  OF  ONE  loi 

of  customers  rather  than  of  one  or  two  delivery  men; 
but  we  can  reduce  their  work  by  carrying  packages 
home,  by  never  ordering  more  than  once  a  day,  or,  even 
better,  once  or  twice  a  week,  and  by  trying  never  to 
order  anything  but  perishable  food  just  before  a  Sun- 
day or  a  holiday.  Grocers  usually  have  to  employ 
extra  help  at  such  times,  and  a  bit  of  thoughtfulness 
on  the  part  of  the  customers  would  make  this  unneces- 
sary. 

During  the  last  few  years  boys  here  at  home  have  had 
such  chances  as  boys  never  had  before,  because  places 
left  vacant  by  men  were  given  to  them.  They  received 
high  wages,  and  they  had  splendid  opportunities  to 
rise.  But  did  you  ever  watch  them  in  working  hours  ? 
Some  of  them  thought  they  were  big  folk  just  because 
they  had  dropped  into  big  places.  Others  were  trying 
their  best  to  fill  the  big  places.  You  could  almost  see 
at  a  glance  which  ones  would  rise  in  the  world  and  which 
ones  would  never  hold  such  high  positions  again. 

The  verses  about  the  hungry  little  French  baby  who 
couldn't  be  the  "hope  of  France,'*  because  he  couldn't 
"get  enough  food  to  have  a  chance,"  end  as  follows: 

I  wish  I  had  a  father.  If  I  couldn't  have  that,  then  I  wish  some 
other  babies*  fathers  would  give  me  a  place  to  stay — 

A  warm,  light  place,  with  persons  in  it  while  the  Person  in  Skirts  is 
gone  all  day. 

And  maybe  they'd  give  me  some  food  that  wasn't  as  bad  as  grass  tea. 

Do  you  think,  if  their  babies  have  plenty  and  some  left  over,  the 
other  babies'  fathers  would  do  that  for  me? 


I02 


FOOD  SAVING  AND  SHARING 


This  is  what  we  are  trying  to  do;  to  feed  the  children 
and  the  grown  folks,  to  help  the  nations  that  are  at 
last  set  free  from  tyranny  and  cruelty,  and  to  make 
the  world  safe  and  happy  for  them  and  for  us. 

"I  don't  believe  you  know  wh'at  *U.S.'  means," 
some  one  once  said  teasingly  to  a  very  small  American 
boy.  The  little  fellow  drew  himself  up  to  his  full 
height,  looked  the  man  in  the  eye,  and  said,  "*U.S.' 
means  us."  We  are  a  firmly  united  people,  striving 
for  the  right.  We  have  a  big  piece  of  work  on  hand, 
but  "*U.S.'  means  us,"  and  with  the  help  of  God  we 
will  carry  it  through. 
It  is  worth  remembering: 

That  the  work  of  the  Food  Administration  is  to 
control  and  to  save  food  so  that  every  one  may 
share  it. 
That  in  the  work  that  lies  before  us  each  person 

must  either  help  or  hinder. 
That  it  is  an  honor  to  be  asked  to  work  for  our 

country. 
That  "*U.  S.'  means  us,** 


c^=: 

— -r:.... ..,., -  ^ 

:         THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  n^AST  DATE  _ 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS                          : 

tlUI.  BE  ASSESSED   FOR   TAII-URE  TO   RrrURN                 ^      ., 
OVERDUE.                                                                                               _        f^r^ 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY       1 


«^ 


THE 

u.  s. 

RETAIL     PBICE     OF     THIS     BOOK 
IS   FIXED   AT 

24  Cents 

BY  CXDNTRACT  WITH  THE 

FOOD  ADMINISTRATION 

